jeune fille a la fontaine

Once Stolen Painting to Be Sold at Sotheby's

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot's "Jeune femme a la fontaine" is estimated to rake in up to $1.8 million at a June 2, 2010 sale at Sotheby's. The nineteenth century piece has an interesting history, having been owned by a patron of Claude Monet and Hamburg banker Eduard Ludwig Behrens. And, it was at one point in the clutches of NAZIs, who had stolen the piece from the Behrens family.

It was returned to the heirs of Georg Behrens, who was arrested in 1938 and sent to a concentration camp, in 2008 based on advice from the Dutch Restitutions Committee. The heirs prefer to remain anonymous. Approximately 650,000 pieces were seized during the 12 years Adolf Hitler held power, and among them were works from the Behrens collection, which was considered one of the most important private art collections in Europe at the time. For 66 years, this Corot painting hung in the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo (in the Netherlands).

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Tags: art auction, art auctions, art collection, art collector, art restitution, corot, jean baptise camille corot, jeune fille a la fontaine, Nazis, sothebys, world war ii