NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s confirmed it has facilitated the successful return of a 17th century Dutch Old Master painting confiscated by the Nazis from a renowned French private collection in 1943 during the Nazi occupation of France. Solomon Koninck’s A Scholar Sharpening His Quill, painted in 1639, will be returned to the heirs of Adolphe Schloss (1842-1911) on Monday April 1 at the Consulate General of France in New York under the auspices of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs for the French Republic. The ceremony, organized with the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, will include representatives from the Schloss family, the FBI Art Crime Team, and Christie’s.
Confiscated by the Nazis in France in 1943, the painting was rediscovered by Christie’s Restitution Research team after it had been taken in on consignment in 2017 from a private collector in Chile and shipped to Christie’s New York. Comprehensive research over the course of the following weeks led the Christie’s team to investigate and cross-reference multiple international databases and historical sources – some digitized and others not – to confirm the consigned painting was a match to one described as missing from the Schloss family collection for the last 75 years. The painting is believed to have been in Chile since the 1950s, after it was sold into a private collection there by Walter Andreas Hofer, a known purchasing agent for Hermann Göring, a leader of the Nazi Party.
Once the match was confirmed, Christie’s Restitution and Legal teams halted the pre-sale process, secured the painting, and notified both the consignor and the Schloss family, in keeping with Christie’s global policy governing Nazi-spoilated property. In October of 2018, after attempts to facilitate an amicable resolution for the painting reached an impasse, Christie’s referred the case and its research findings on to the FBI Art Crime Team.
Marc Porter, Chairman of Christie’s Americas, commented: “Today we are gratified to see that the diligent research efforts of our dedicated Restitution Team have brought about the long-awaited return of this painting to Adolphe Schloss’s heirs. Navigating this issue across international borders has been complex for all parties involved, and we are grateful for the partnership of the US Attorney’s Office and FBI Art Crime Team in helping us to reach this resolution today.”
Monica Dugot, Senior Vice President and International Director of Restitution, at Christie’s added, “To date, Christie’s has helped to resolve nearly 200 restitution claims involving Nazi-spoilated property. Today’s successful return reaffirms our commitment to continued investment in research and scholarship in this vitally important area.”
A Scholar Sharpening His Quill was among the hundreds of paintings looted from the Schloss collection in France in 1943. During his life, Adolphe Schloss assembled one of the most significant private collections of Dutch and Flemish paintings, which passed to his wife and children upon his death. The collection’s prominence and the Schloss family Jewish heritage made it a target for confiscation by the Nazi party, and the Koninck Scholar painting was among those taken from a chateau in France where the Schloss family had sent the artworks for safekeeping. Records show the Koninck was among a number of works earmarked for Hitler’s museum at Linz but it never arrived there. While it was being held in the Führerbau building in Munich in the days between the fall of the Third Reich and the arrival of Allied troops, the contents of the building were looted by German civilians and the Schloss Koninck was among the many artworks that disappeared.
