The Louvre Museum has put on display 31 paintings looted by the Nazis during the Second World War in the hope that surviving relatives of their original owners will come forward to claim them.

The paintings, recovered in Germany after the war, were among about 100,000 works of art looted by the Nazis during their occupation of France.

More than 45,000 have been handed back but more than 2,000 remain unclaimed, including 296 paintings stored at the Louvre.

Sébastien Allard, head of the paintings department, said the Paris museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of art and artefacts, wanted to return them.

“The vast majority of the works of art retrieved were plundered from Jewish families. Their heirs may see these works, declare that they belong to them, and officially ask for their return. Museums have often appeared to be predators in the past, but we are not trying to keep them.”