FORT WORTH, TX.- The Kimbell Art Museum and Mr. Alain Monteagle jointly announce today the return of Joseph Mallord William Turner抯 painting Glaucus and Scylla (1841) to the heirs of John and Anna Jaff�. The painting, which has been in the Kimbell抯 collection since 1966, is being returned as the result of discussions over recent months between the Museum and Mr. Monteagle, the representative of the Jaff� heirs. During the past two years, Mr. Monteagle has conducted an investigation into the provenance of the Kimbell Turner, as he had done for other paintings in museums and private collections when it was determined that the Jaff� collection may have been unlawfully seized by the pro-Nazi Vichy regime in France in 1943. As a result, paintings by Francesco Guardi and David Teniers the Younger were restituted last year to the Jaff� heirs by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Further research by Mr. Monteagle and the Kimbell also supported Mr. Monteagle抯 claim regarding the Turner.

Mr. Monteagle commented: 揙n behalf of the heirs, I wish to express the gratitude of my family to the Kimbell Art Museum for the spirit of cooperation with which these discussions have taken place, and for the speed with which the agreement has been reached. I particularly wish to thank the director, Dr. Potts, and curator, Dr. Warner, and the trustees of the Kimbell for their assistance in resolving this issue.�

The painting will remain on view at the Kimbell through Sunday, June 25, as part of the exhibition 揗asterpiece: A New Look at the Kimbell Collection.�

John Jaff�, a British subject, was a prominent Jewish art collector who resided at the Villa Jaff� in Nice, France, with his wife, Anna. The couple was well known in the English circle in Nice, and Anna was a friend of the writers Henry James and Marcel Proust. John and Anna even received congratulations on their Diamond wedding anniversary from King George V and Queen Mary.

By the 1930s, much of Europe was becoming an increasingly hostile environment for the Jews. In his will, John commented on the 搒adly changing circumstances through which we are passing,� a reference to the rise of National Socialism under Hitler. John and Anna were keenly aware of the current political situation in Germany, and received news from Gustave Cohen, Anna抯 nephew and Mr. Monteagle抯 grandfather. Mr. Cohen was also the creator of the Maison Descartes in Amsterdam, and later a professor of medieval literature at Strasbourg University and the Sorbonne. A friend of the writers Paul Val閞y and Jean Giraudoux, he regularly visited Germany even after 1933.

John Jaff� had acquired Glaucus and Scylla in 1902 from the Sedelmeyer Gallery in Paris. At the time of his death in 1933, the painting was bequeathed to his wife, Anna, who bequeathed her property to her nephews Gustave Cohen, Paul Gluge, and Th閛phile Gluge, and her niece, Alice Heymann. Anna was trapped in France by the war, and died in Nice on March 7, 1942. The Vichy authorities disregarded her bequest to her niece and nephews, who were in no position to claim their inheritance. Indeed, her nephew Th閛phile was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz, where he died. Gustave had fortunately left for New York, where he created the French 蒫ole Libre des Hautes 蓆udes, and he later joined General De Gaulle in Algiers and London.

In July 1943, the Vichy regime unlawfully seized the contents of Anna Jaff閽s home, including the Turner painting, which they proceeded to sell at an auction of 揓ewish property� at the Hall du Savoy in Nice on July 12 and 13 that year. More than 60 paintings and many other works of art owned by the Jaff� family were scattered.

In recent months, the Kimbell has worked closely with Mr. Monteagle to clarify the details of the painting抯 ownership and movement in the years during and following World War II. After 1943 it does not turn up again in provenance records until 1956, when Emile Leitz of Paris sold it to the art dealer Agnew抯 of London. It was then sold to Howard Young Galleries, New York, in 1957, and was owned by a Mrs. Chamberlain in the United States until 1966, when Newhouse Galleries, Inc., sold it to the Kimbell Art Foundation. The information that Newhouse Galleries provided to the Kimbell at the time of the purchase made no mention of the Jaff閟, only that after 1902 the painting had belonged to 揳 French Collector, Paris, France, until after 1950.�

In light of the evidence linking the Turner to an unlawful seizure, the Kimbell has returned the painting to Mr. Monteagle, the representative of the heirs of Anna抯 three nephews and one niece (all now deceased) to whom she bequeathed her property in her will.