MUNICH.- Together with Lenbachhaus, the Munich Department of Arts and Culture is restituting a painting by the artist Hans Schöpfer the Elder from the museum's collection, returning it to Marei von Saher, the sole heir to the Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker (1897–1940). Proactive research by Lenbachhaus found the work to have been confiscated in 1940 in an act of National Socialist persecution. The Bavarian capital city of Munich has a clear stance in this regard: The injustices perpetrated by the National Socialist regime must not be allowed to occur again. Accordingly, public offices expressly work to restitute cultural assets to their former owners or to the owners' legal heirs. The restitution of this painting is based on the Washington Principles of 1998 regarding works of art confiscated under National Socialism. The decision by the Munich City Council's Committee on Culture to restitute the work was made on March 7, 2024.

The painting is an early-modern period portrait of the Freising Hofmeister (Court Master) Achaz Busch from the year 1532, painted by Hans Schöpfer the Elder (ca. 1505–1566). Records clearly show that the piece belonged to the "Münchner herzogliche Kunstkammer" (Ducal Munich Art Chambers) in the 16th century. In the early 1920s it was sold by a Berlin art dealership to the Amsterdam-based Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, one of the most important figures in the Dutch art market before the Second World War. Following the attack of the German Wehrmacht and the capitulation of the Netherlands on May 15, 1940, Jacques Goudstikker decided to move himself, his wife and their one-year-old son to safety. They left on one of the last possible transports from Amsterdam to England. Jacques Goudstikker suffered a fatal accident on board the ship when he one night fell through an open hatch on the ship's deck. He carried with him his "Black Notebook", a small black leather-bound book with a typed register: Goudstikker had inventoried the art works in his personal collection and his art dealership shortly before fleeing. After 1945, the list, documenting 1200 objects, served as the most important source proving Goudstikker's ownership. Against the will of his widow Désirée Goudstikker, his art dealership in Amsterdam was taken over by German Field Marshall Hermann Göring and the banker and speculator Alois Miedl. In the course of "Aryanization", the works of art were stolen and resold through a number of channels. The "Mansportret" by Hans Schöpfer listed in the "Black Notebook" under number 1228 was sold by Alois Miedl to the art dealer Wilhelm Henrich, who delivered the painting to the Heinrich Hahn auction house in Frankfurt am Main in March 1941. There, a Frankfurt art historian purchased the painting on behalf of Konrad Schießl, director of the Städtische Museen München (Munich City Museums). In the same month the painting was added to the inventory of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus collection.

After the Second World War, Désirée Goudstikker filed suit against the Netherlands; the case ended in a settlement. The majority of the works involved, however, remained illegally in the ownership of international institutions and museums. The heirs of the family once again asserted their ownership in the late 1990s. Over 200 works were restituted following many years of negotiations and a corresponding recommendation by the Dutch Restitutiecommissie (Restitution Committee). Several individual works were also returned subsequently. The reconstruction and re-establishment of Jacques Goudstikker's collection and the inventory of his art dealership continued in a number of research projects, the most recent from 2019 to 2022.

Anton Biebl, Director of the Munich Department of Arts and Culture, says: "A robust culture of remembrance is based on a connection between the past, the present and the future. Provenance research and restitution of cultural assets help to confront history and return to the public a piece of their own past. It is thus absolutely correct that Bavaria's capital city Munich has decided to return the painting 'Achaz Busch' to the heir of the Goudstikker family." Marei von Saher replies: "It is encouraging to see that the Lenbachhaus has done the right thing with respect to the victims of the Nazis and the families of the victims. I am very grateful to Lenbachhaus for returning the painting by Schöpfer to the family of Jacques Goudstikker."