(Q100401185)
English
Restitution claims for three paintings, two by the heirs of Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer of Berlin, owners of the Margraf group, and one by the heirs of Alfred Weinberger
news article
- National Gallery of Ireland Provenance Research October 2017: 9 October 2017: Restitution claims for three paintings, two by the heirs of Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer of Berlin, owners of the Margraf group, and one by the heirs of Alfred Weinberger
Statements
National Gallery of Ireland Provenance Research October 2017:9 October 2017: Restitution claims for three paintings, two by the heirs of Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer of Berlin, owners of the Margraf group, and one by the heirs of Alfred Weinberger (English)
1 reference
1 reference
Provenance research by the National Gallery of Ireland followed the receipt of restitution claims for three paintings in 2012 and 2013The claims for two of the paintings, a St Christopher attributed to Cranach the Elder and Portrait of a Woman by a 16th century German artist, were made by the heirs of Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer (owners of the Margraf group of companies including the Van Diemen gallery of Berlin). The claim for the third painting, Descent into Limbo by a follower of Bosch, was made by the heirs of Alfred Weinberger of Paris.Following receipt of the claims, the National Gallery commissioned Laurie Stein, a private provenance researcher, to conduct further investigations. She concluded that the sale of the two Oppenheimer paintings in 1934, when they were acquired by the National Gallery, was not under duress and that the sale proceeds were not confiscated. She found that the Weinberger painting was confiscated by the ERR in 1941, that the painting was retrieved by a German art dealer in 1941/2, that the owner did not pursue a claim for it after the war although he did for other works taken from him, suggesting 'the possibility of a private resolution having been reached between him and either the German art dealer' or when it was sold at auction in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1950. (English)