Provenance Research:
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (State Art Gallery of Karlsruhe)
Museum
Staatliche
Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (State Art Gallery of Karlsruhe)
Research into Nazi-confiscated works of art
in the museum's collection
In 2000 the
painting Bildnis der Marchesa Veronica Spinola Doria (Portrait of
the Marchesa Veronica Spinola Doria
)(1607-8) by Rubens which was in the museum's collection was claimed by a
French legal firm on behalf of the community of heirs of Jacob and Rosa
Oppenheimer. The museum had purchased the painting in 1964 from a private
collector. Research by the museum confirmed that the collector had bought it at
an auction at Berlin dealer Paul Graupe on 26/27 April 1935. The auction was a
forced sale of the works of Berlin art firms Galerie Van Diemen & Co./GmbH,
Altkunst und Antiquitäten/GmbH and Dr. Otto Burchard & Co GmbH. In 1929 the
Oppenheimer family had inherited the Margraf Group which encompassed these art
dealerships as well as the jewellery dealer Margraf & Co. The family lost
control of the group in 1933 due to Nazi persecution.
Historical research revealed that the Oppenheimer family had claimed the painting from the collector in the 1950s.The collector had refused to return the painting, but eventually an out-of-court financial settlement was agreed in 1954. In this case, this was considered the equivalent of a restitution today. On the basis of this information the 2000 claim was withdrawn. This conclusion also holds for the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, which has a Rubens painting, Marchesa Imperiale mit Tochter (Marchesa Imperiale with Daughter ), purchased by the same collector at the same auction.
Research into cultural property missing from
the museum
No information is available at present
Contact
Details
Prof.Dr. Klaus Schrenk, Direktor
Staatliche
Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
Hans-Thoma-Str. 2-6
76133 Karlsruhe
Tel: +49 (0)
721 926 3355
Fax: +49 (0) 721 926 6788
Email: mail@kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de
http://www.kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de/
Source
Klaus Schrenk,
'Das Gemälde "Bildnis der Marchesa Veronica Spinola Doria" von Peter Paul Rubens
und die Chronologie einer Rückforderung', in Koordinierungsstelle für
Kulturgutverluste (ed.), Beiträge öffentlicher Einrichtungen der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland zum Umgang mit Kulturgütern aus ehemaligem jüdischen
Besitz (Magdeburg: Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste, 2001),
150-159. In German, summary in English
<http://www.kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de >, accessed 16 December 2002
See also: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
