nazis

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

NAZI Art Agreement To Be Reviewed At Conference

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Over the next few days, delegates from 50 countries are meeting to discuss the commitments of governments around the world to track down and return items stolen by the NAZIs. On the agenda will be the extents to which specific nations have enacted a 1998 agreement called the Washington principles (non-binding). This year, the conference is considering a new declaration on stolen art.

An estimated 650,000 pieces of art were estimated to have been stolen under Adolf Hitler's 12-year reign. More than six decades later, 70,000 pieces remain missing and sought by their owners.

While the Washington principles are considered to be a great foundation, the current problem is that they have yet to be implemented. At the upcoming conference, the delegation will announce rankings of countries based on how fully they have implemented the Washington principles. Among those that have failed to deliver are Russia, Hungary, France, Italy and Spain. Austria and Netherlands are said to be most compliant with the principles.

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Tags: adolf hitler, AdolfHitler, art, artwork, hitler, nazi, nazis