Luis Fernando Romo

Updated Saturday, March 23, 2024-02:38

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Obscenely millionaires. Spy network.

Fierce power struggles.

Jews who dealt with Nazis who plundered other Jews? Yes, they are the Wildensteins, the most powerful gallerist dynasty of the last 150 years.

After the acquittals of 2017 and 2018, the current patriarch of the saga

Guy Wildenstein (78)

, great-grandson of the founder of the saga, Nathan, has finally been convicted in France for massive tax fraud and money laundering: a fine of one million euros and four years in prison, two of them suspended and the others under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, is the sentence that the powerful dealer has received. His nephew Alec and his advisors have also been sentenced.

The life of the Ws, as the Wildensteins are popularly known, is not suitable for those who only call themselves rich.

It all started in 1870 with Nathan

(1851-1934), an Alsatian tailor, son of a rabbi, who after moving to Paris opened a tie and cufflinks store with a partner. Fortuitously, one of his clients, the Polish countess Delfina Potocka, asked him to act as an intermediary in the sale of a painting attributed to Van Dyck. Nathan had no idea about art, but he toured the Louvre for several days and discovered his passion.

The following years were spent visiting museums and private galleries to learn the trade of art dealer and agent, which culminated in the opening in 1875 of Wildenstein & Co., a gallery specializing in

18th-century French painting, drawing, and sculpture

. In 1903 he already had a gallery in New York with a clientele that included the industrialist Henry Ford, the railroad magnate Henry Edwards Huntington and the actor Edward G. Robinson. In 1925 he opened another gallery in London. He became rich by specializing in 18th century French paintings, such as

Fragonard, Boucher and Chardin

, which he found in auctions at ridiculous prices.

Nazi looting

By then he already had a consolidated marriage and three children. One of them, Georges, developed an infallible sense of smell for art and forged a deep friendship with Dalí, Ernst and Picasso, for whom he was a dealer. It is said that Georges paid the Malaga painter a salary for his work, which allowed him to amass such a fortune that in the mid-20th century it was believed that he was the richest and most powerful dealer on the planet. The saga of the dealers continued with his son Daniel, who gave the family gallery an

academic aspect

by being in charge of cataloging and inventorying the management of the cultural heritage of old masters and impressionist artists. Furthermore, he promoted internationalization.

The modus operandi of this dynasty has always been the same. The Wildensteins have hoarded thousands of works of art in free ports, strongrooms and even in a nuclear bunker where they keep canvases by

Raphael, Velázquez, Caravaggio, Manet and Renoir

.

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If discretion has been essential for them to prosper, the wedding of Alec, Daniel's son, with Jocelyn Périsset exploded that premise.

Daughter of a Swiss shopkeeper

, after her wedding she became one of the most desired and photographed

socialites

, especially due to

her obsession with cosmetic surgery

that has transformed her face in such a way that she is known as the cat Woman.

But it's not just her who has made headlines. The journalist Héctor Feliciano recounted the dark side of the Wildensteins two decades ago in his book

From Him The Disappeared Museum

. The Nazi conspiracy to steal the masterpieces of world art. In his pages he reveals that Georges began to collaborate in the trade of art looted from the Jews by the Third Reich before the war and that he continued during the occupation of France.

To know more

Millionaire families.

The latest scandal of Jocelyn, "the queen of the jungle": rise and fall of the Wildensteins

  • Editor: EDUARDO VERBO

The latest scandal of Jocelyn, "the queen of the jungle": rise and fall of the Wildensteins

The commercial skills of this saga have allowed them to amass one of the great fortunes in the field of art that experts estimate at 5 billion dollars. Among his possessions are

a farm in Kenya of almost 30,000 hectares that Alberto Cortina wanted to buy in 2007

and one of the best stables of thoroughbred horses in the world. Thanks to his love of polo, Guy managed to become intimate with Charles III when he was Prince of Wales. The current monarch is the godfather of his son David.

Jocelyn, the cat woman

Dropdown

Daughter of a Swiss shopkeeper, Jocelyn Périsset (83) learned to rub shoulders with the upper echelons when she went to live in Paris. Through Adnan Khashoggi she met Alec Wildenstein, with whom she married and had two children. They divorced in 1999 after catching her husband in bed with a Russian model. In the divorce agreement she obtained 2.5 billion dollars plus another 100 million per year, although after the death of her ex they cut off her payments. HBO has dedicated a documentary to him.