Germany returns three paintings stolen by the Nazis to French descendants

A new restitution of paintings stolen by the Nazis took place on Wednesday, January 22. The German government returned three works of art, which disappeared in France during the Occupation, to the descendants of their Jewish owner, the collector Armand Dorville.

These are two paintings, "Lady in evening dress" and "Portrait of a lady" by the painter Jean-Louis Forain, as well as a drawing by Constantin Guys, "Amazon with a prancing horse".

Kulturstaatsministerin Monika Grütters (CDU) hat 3 als NS-Raubkunst identifizierte Kunstwerke an die Erben des französischen Kunstsammlers Armand Dorville zurückgegeben. Ein Aquarell und ein Ölgemälde kommen aus dem # Gurlitt-Bestand, eine Zeichnung aus Privatbesitz. (dpa) pic.twitter.com/mwQpOMMOTC

An important gesture of historic justice

The paintings were among hundreds of works bequeathed by the German-Austrian art collector Cornelius Gurlitt, who died in 2014. His father, Hildebrand, had been commissioned by the Nazis to sell works stolen from the Jews or confiscated for "decadence" .

These three works belonged to Armand Dorville, a lawyer and collector of French art of Jewish faith, who died in 1941. His heirs had his paintings confiscated which the Vichy regime had then auctioned off. Some were acquired by museums, others by private collectors.

The Dorville family having been unable to touch the money from the sale, they were unable to flee. Most of its members were killed during the Occupation.

"It is no longer possible to repair the suffering suffered by the Dorville family during the Nazi persecutions but we must make them visible and this restitution is an important gesture of historic justice", said the Secretary of State for Culture Monika Grütters.

For several years, the German government has been engaged in an active policy of restitution of these works of art to the descendants of their owners. In 2013, more than 1,500 works were found at Cornelius Gurlitt. Today, only 13 of them have been returned to the heirs of their original owners.

With AFP

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