US authorities ordered a Florida museum not to return an Italian Renaissance painting on loan from a Milan collection to determine if it was stolen from a Jewish family in France in World War II, according to the museum.

Chucha Barber, chief executive officer of The Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science in Tallahassee said the museum was told to hold the Girolamo Romano work Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue, part of a larger exhibit of Italian paintings, to determine its rightful owner.

Before the end of an exhibit on September 4, Ms Barber said she was contacted by US attorney’s office, which ordered the 16th century painting to remain in the US while the question of ownership is determined.

“Federal officials have requested my museum not to return one of 50 paintings on loan from a museum in Italy,” she said.

The 1538 painting, on loan from the Brera Art Gallery in Milan, could belong to the Gentili family, a Jewish family which left Italy and were in Vichy-ruled France in World War II when their collection was seized, according to the Tallahassee Democrat, the newspaper that first reported the story.

The daily said that the museum was contacted by Lionel Salem, a descendant of the Gentilis who has been seeking to recover artwork stolen from his family.