The painting of the Dutch painter Salomon Koninck, will be returned to New York to the descendants of the collector Adolphe Schloss next Monday. The work had been stolen by the Germans during the Occupation.
A painting by the Dutch painter Salomon Koninck, stolen by the Germans under the Occupation from the family of the collector Adolphe Schloss, will be returned to his heirs next Monday in New York, said the French Consulate in a statement.
This is a painting from 1639, entitled A scholar sharpening his quill, which was part of the large collection of Dutch and Flemish works by the Jewish collector in Paris. According to Christie's auction house, the work is valued at 10,000 to 15,000 euros. Restitution by FBI agents will take place in the presence of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. The names of the descendants of Adolphe Schloss were not immediately specified.
Tables stolen and resold
Sheltered at the beginning of the war in the South of France, some 333 paintings by Adolphe Schloss were found and seized in 1943 by the Nazis. Some of the works, including this Koninck painting, were then sent to Hitler's headquarters in Munich.
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Disappeared for years, the painting had resurfaced in November 2017, when a Chilean art dealer had tried to sell it through a New York auction house, said last October the federal prosecutor of Manhattan, by launching a formal restitution procedure. The merchant explained to the authorities that her father bought the painting in 1952 from Walter Andreas Hofer, who was responsible for art purchases for Nazi leader Hermann Göring and a major player in the dispersal of stolen property.
Regular restitution procedures
Millions of Jewish-owned items were confiscated during the occupation, based on anti-Semitic laws passed by the Vichy government and "Aryanized" art galleries. The Manhattan Attorney, where major auction houses are based, regularly reports claims for the return of looted property during the Second World War.