The British Museum on Tuesday acknowledged a ”compelling” claim that four old master drawings in its possession had been looted by the Nazis during World War II from a private collection.
The museum has studied the claim made in May by the Commission for Looted Art in Europe on behalf of the family of Dr Arthur Feldmann of Brno, Czechoslovakia. It said it would work for a speedy resolution.
The museum trustees said they noted that ”the atrocities committed during the era 1933-45 represent a distinct and especially brutal period of modern history, and express their sympathy with the claims of victims of the Nazi regime.”
”The commission naturally is delighted that the British Museum has unreservedly accepted that the claim is well-founded and that these works were looted,” said Anne Webber, co-chair of the London-based commission, which helps identify and recover looted cultural property.
”That means a huge amount to the family; that an institution like the British Museum has acknowledged what happened to them and the family collection, which is something the family is so proud of,” she said.
Feldmann, a lawyer, had a renowned collection of more than 700 old master drawings. The Gestapo seized it on March 15, 1939. Feldmann’s wife was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp, where she was killed, Webber said, and Feldmann was imprisoned and sentenced to death, but died as a result of ill-treatment in 1941.
Webber said the family members making the claim did not wish to be identified.
The museum identified the drawings involved as Niccolo dell’Abbate’s ”The Holy Family,” Nicholas Blakey’s ”An Allegory on Poetic Inspiration with Mercury and Apollo,” Martin Johann Schmidt’s ”Virgin and Infant Christ adored by St. Elizabeth and the infant St. John” and, by a follower of Martin Schongauer, ”St. Dorothy with the Christ Child.”
Webber said the first three were acquired on behalf of the British Museum at a 1946 auction at Sotheby’s in London. The fourth was among prints and drawings bequeathed to the museum in 1948 by one of its former curators.
The museum’s trustees said they recognised the merits of the ”detailed and compelling claim.”
Carol Homden, speaking for the museum, said ”it was an extremely detailed, well-researched claim,” and that the museum would be working with the commission to resolve the claim.
The commission, an independent, nonprofit body, represents the European Council of Jewish Communities and the Conference of European Rabbis. – Sapa-AP