Museums, Libraries and Archives :

Provenance Research in Finnish Museums

Updated Information 23 May 2022

1. Provenance Research at Ateneum Art Museum

See below the list for works in Ateneum’s collections of foreign art whose provenance between the years 1933–45 has not yet been fully investigated. To facilitate this work, it is in the interest of the museums to make public those works of art on whose provenance other researchers may be able to shed light. 

Works of foreign art in the Ateneum Art Museum collections whose provenance between the years 1933–45 has not yet been fully investigated

Chervin, Louis (1905–1969), Montreuil s/Mer, Shore Landscape, pencil

Chervin, Louis, Shore Landscape, pencil and charcoal

Chervin, Louis, Shore Landscape, charcoal

Chervin, Louis, Shore Landscape, pencil and charcoal

Chervin, Louis, Shore Landscape, pencil

Degas, Edgar (1834–1917), Avant la course (Longchamps), charcoal

Dehoorn, Jean (1884–1937), Still Life on a Chair, 1928, oil on cardboard

Dücker, Eugene (1841–1916), Calf Head, oil on paper

Falquière, Alexandre (1831–1900), Diana, bronze

Funi, Achille (d. 1972), Lighthouse of Trieste, 1935, oil on plywood

Gillioli, Émile (1911–1977), “Mirror”, bronze

Gleizes, Albert, Bermuda, 1917, gouache, pencil and watercolour on paper

Guidi, Virgilio (1891–1984), Woman Sleeping, 1935, oil on canvas

Guillaumin, Armand (1841–1927), Commandeur Woods, colour pencil on paper

Heine, Thomas Theodor (1867–1948), Alpdrücken, black chalk

Helleu, Paul-César (1859–1927), Portrait of a Man, Indian ink

Herbin, Auguste (1882–1960), Composition, 1918, watercolour on paper

Jacque, Ch., Cock, oil on canvas

Jamieson, Alexander (1873–1937), View from Flazwell Heath, Buckingham, 1913, oil on wood

Kokoschka, Oskar (1886–1980), Self-Portrait, charcoal

Kulikov, Ivan Semenovitš (1875–1941), Sea Landscape, 1893, oil on canvas

Kunwald, Cesar (b. 1870), Man Mourning, 1929, oil on canvas

Lorentzon, Waldemar (1899–1984), Advent, 1933, oil on canvas

Magnelli, Alberto (1888–1971), Composition, 1942, gouache and pencil

Maksimov, Vasili Maksimovitš (1844–1911), Russian Cottage Interior, 1872, oil on canvas

Marussig, Pietro (1879–1937), Landscape from Liguria, c. 1932, oil on wood

Meunier, Constantin (1831–1905), Old Man Sitting, watercolour on paper

Milles, Carl (1875–1955), Struggle for Survival, 1899–1900, bronze

Milles, Carl, Girl with Cat, 1901, bronze

Forgery, previously attr.: Monet, Claude (1840–1926), White Horses, oil on canvas

Forgery, previously attr.: Renoir, Auguste (1841–1919), Young Girl, oil on wood

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš (1844–1930), Landscape from Tšugujev, 1867, watercolour and gouache on paper

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, The Scythe Man, 1876, watercolour on paper

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Farmhouse Yard, 1878, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Young Boy Carrying an Icon, sketch, 1880, oil on hardboard

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Christ at the Feast, 1880, pencil

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Girl at the Table, 1883, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, St Nicholas, sketch, 1888, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Cossack Laughing, study for the Zaporogs, 1880-1891, red and black chalk

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Landscape, Well, pencil

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Landscape, pencil

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, The Duel, sketch, c. 1896, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Young Woman in Pink, 1903, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, On the Shore, 1903, watercolour, gouache and pencil

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Adelina Patti, study, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Konstantin Nikolai Lebedev, study for the painting Puskin at the Lyceum Exams, c. 1911, pencil

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Doctor Writing, 1919, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Woman at the Table, 1925, watercolour and pencil on paper

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Study of Two Peasant Boys’ Heads, oil on hardboard

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Carriage Drivers Warming Themselves, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Peasant Girl in a Scarf, sketch, oil on canvas

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Man in a Historical Costume with a Tiara, oil on wood

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Christ Clears up the Synagogue, pencil

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Boy with Red Face, black chalk and red colour pencil on paper

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Man Pushing a Pole, charcoal and watercolour on paper

Repin, Ilja Jefimovitš, Portrait of a Girl, oil on canvas

Sironi, Mario (1885–1961), Gathering, 1932, oil on canvas

Forgery, previously attr.: Sisley, Alfred (1839–1899), Winter Landscape, oil on canvas

Forgery, previously attr.: Sisley, Alfred, Spring Landscape from England, oil on canvas

Tosi, Arturo (1871–1956), Lago d’Iseo, 1930, oil on canvas

Valtat, Louis (1869–1952), Landscape, oil on canvas

Verestshagin, Vasili (1842–1904), Snowy Mountains, oil on canvas

Willumsen, Jens Ferdinand (1863–1958), Woman Sitting on a Mountain, 1902, watercolour on paper

Vlaminck, Maurice de (1876–1958), By the Water, 1919, oil on canvas

Vrubel, Mihail (1856–1910), The Sea Princess (Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel in Rimski-Korsakov’s opera Sadko), sketch, c. 1897, watercolour and pencil on paper

Picture: Verestshagin, Vasili (1842–1904), Snowy Mountains, oil on canvas (detail)

2. Sinebrychoff Art Museum

The Finland National Gallery site states that the Sinebrychoff Museum is the other National Gallery museum carrying out provenance research but provides no further details. The Sinebrychoff Museum has a provenance page at https://sinebrychoffintaidemuseo.fi/en/research/ but has no information about works researched.

Source of above:
Provenance page of Kansallisgaleria (Finland National Gallery) at https://www.kansallisgalleria.fi/en/provenienssitutkimus, accessed 23 May 2022

 

Earlier information from 2010

By November 2010 three museums in Finland had conducted provenance research.  These are the Ateneum Art Museum, which chiefly collects Finnish art, the Sinebrychoff Museum which focuses on European Old Masters, and the National Museum of Finland which focuses on Finnish cultural history.

The details of the research are posted on the Museums of Finland website here, also available here, dated as of 29 November 2010.  The text below is reproduced from the Museums of Finland website. 

Ateneum Art Museum

"Acquisitions to the international collection have been sporadic and dependent on resources. Thus there are few works in the collections of the Ateneum Art Museum that have lacunae in their provenance."  See the list here, as published on 29 November 2010 here.

Sinebrychoff Art Museum

"This museum has a much larger problem in terms of research because of the volume and scope of the collections. At this stage, works that have been acquired at auction over the past decades have been excluded from the list, since they have been publicly exhibited before the auctions."  See the list here, as published on 29 November 2010 here.

The National Museum of Finland

"The works of old masters in the museum´s collections mainly come from three private collectors, K. E. A. Bergman (1868-1944), Eric Idestam (1900-1960) and Albert Enckell (1883-1964), through bequests. A random selection of archival material pertaining to the purchase of some of the works, kept by the collectors themselves, has been preserved.  Station master K. E. A. Bergman collected silver, furniture, porcellain, etc. as well as art.  Both Eric Idestam, Master of Laws, and engineer Albert Enckell were avid collectors with wide-ranging interests, collecting, as did K. E. A. Bergman, much else besides art. All bequeathed their collections to the National Museum, inclusive of the old master paintings they had acquired in Europe (e.g. in London), and through art dealers in Helsinki."

The site lists a owing selection of their collections includes all those paintings that are known to have been acquired in Europe, or that have no known provenance.

See the list here, as published on 29 November 2010 here.