| | Resolved
Objects Each object tells a story. Some are still missing,
some are restituted or resolved, and some have cases still pending. The circumstances
of looting and the efforts for recovery are just as fascinating as the famous
works of art themselves. Nicholas
de Nuefchatel, Portrait of Jan van Eversdyck,
1580
 Nicholas
de Nuefchatel was a Flemish born German Renaissance painter and who painted this
portrait of Jan van Eversdyck in 1580.
This
painting originally belonged to Dr. Max Stern, who was a prominent Jewish art
dealer and owner of Galerie Stern in Düsseldorf. The Neufchatel painting is one
of more than 200 that were looted from Dr. Stern when he was forced to sell his
collection at a much lower value through Lempertz auction house in Cologne in
1937. In 2006, a researcher for the Max
Stern Art Restitution Project found the portrait on the website for the Yannick
and Ben Jakober Foundation, which is located in Mallorca. The Foundation knew
nothing about the history of the painting until the Holocaust
Claims Processing Office in New York provided them with information about
Dr. Stern and documentation about the portrait. The
Neufchatel painting was sold by Lempertz auction house on three separate occasions:
first, in 1937 at the forced liquidation sale of Galerie Stern, and again in 1977
and 1996. However, the painting’s connection to Dr. Stern and Galerie Stern was
not listed in either the 1977 or 1996 Lempertz sales catalogues. The 1996 purchaser
of the Neufchatel painting donated it that same year to the Jakober Foundation.
The Foundation acknowledged that the Estate
was the rightful owner, but the Neufchatel painting is protected by Spain’s cultural
heritage laws, which prohibit the painting from leaving Spanish national borders
without special permission. Through engaging in an open and amicable dialogue,
the Estate and the Foundation reached a creative solution. The Jakober Foundation
transferred title of the painting to Dr. Stern’s Estate, but the painting remains
on permanent loan with the Jakober Foundation. | |
Gustav
Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
Ernst
Ludwig Kirchner, Street Scene, Berlin Henri
Matisse, Odalisque Edvard
Munch, Summer Night on the Beach Nicholas
de Nuefchatel, Portrait of Jan van Eversdyck Egon
Schiele, Autumn Sun (Herbstonne)
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