The work of an unknown author of the XVI century "Portrait of a man with a dog" and "Landscape with a small herd of the river" brush Dutch artist of the XVIII century Theobald Mihai return heirs Parisian antiquarian Edouard Leon Jonas

unknown artist. Portrait of a man with a dog. XVI century
Source: bloomberg.com


Theobald MIHAI
Landscape with a herd of small streams. XVIII century
Source: bloomberg.com

Dutch government returned two paintings stolen 70 years ago, Reich Marshal Goering, the heirs of their former owner - Parisian antiquarian Jewish Edouard Leon Jonas (Edouard Leon Jonas). The dealer sent the contents of his Paris antique shop in Bordeaux to maintain after 1940 in the capital included the Germans. One of the advisers of art confiscated by Goering's collection of Jonas and sent him to Germany. Among the stolen works were the work of an unknown author of the XVI century oil on wood, "Portrait of a man with a dog" and "Landscape with a small herd of the river" brush Dutch artist of the XVIII century Theobald, Mihai (Theobald Michau).

Göring hid about 1,800 works of art at his villa in the district of Berlin Karinholl, many of the works were confiscated from French Jews. Approximately 80 percent of his collection (safely evacuated from the villa before it blew up) managed to detect and return the rightful owners. These data lead author of a detailed catalog of the meeting Gehring Nancy Eyde (Nancy Yeide).

Reichsmarshal convince himself that he did not steal this work. "In wartime, everyone becomes a little marauder, - he said during the interrogation at Nuremberg. - None of my so-called trophy was not obtained illegally».

Dutch restorative committee that makes recommendations Government regarding the return of stolen Nazi art, advised the dealer's heirs to transfer the work of Jonas, whose names were not disclosed. The Committee referred to the fact that the return current work is among the 140 works that Goering had sold in the hope to get the work of Jan Vermeer. In 1944, he traded nearly one hundred and fifty works on what he believed to be the pearl of his collection - the work of Vermeer's "Christ and the Sinner." Later it turned out that this work was a master of fraud Han van Meegerenom. Goering was a nose, and paintings, including two works from the collection of Jonas, went to Amsterdam dealers who were engaged in trade with the Reich Marshal (Gaudstikker and middle). After the war, the work became part of the Netherlands national art collection. One work came to the state Zapasnik and the other - in a museum in Maastricht.

Netherlands are among the 44 countries signatory to the 1998 Washington provisions for regulating the process of restitution of stolen works of art by the Nazis to their rightful owners and their heirs. In order to properly perform the position, the Dutch government in 2002 established a restorative committee since its inception has recommended 107 times to return illegally confiscated by the Nazis objects.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI

Source: artinvestment.ru