Dutch restitution of Nazi-looted art

The Dutch government has finally moved to correct a flagrant injustice in the restitution of art treasures looted by the Nazis in World War II. For a long period, between the end of that war and 1997, a veil of secrecy had been drawn over the so-called “NK collection”, works of art that had been recuperated but had remained unclaimed when the date for submitting an application for restitution passed.

These works–thousands of them–passed into the Dutch National Art Collection and were exhibited in museums. One example was the Rijksmuseum’s star piece, an Augsburg silver-gilt ewer by the 17th-century goldsmith Johannes Lencker (pictured). This had belonged to the Gutmann family and was one of over 200 works of art from that family, which in 2000 was still part of the NK collection. The children of the Gutmanns, who were murdered in the war, had been claiming these objects since before 1952. They were finally returned last year, and sold at Christie’s last month. . .

As well as being loaned to museums, works from the NK collection had been placed in embassies and ministries. In another case which the report examines, a painting had disappeared after being lent to the Ministry of Defense. The committee is still thinking about how to compensate the owners, the “H” family.

From the Art Newspaper. Meanwhile, a Schiele stolen by the Nazis, which a German museum recently returned to the heirs of its original owners, was just sold at Sotheby's for £11.3m plus commission.

Posted by David on June 23, 2003 9:53 PM