Restitution of artworks honoured

IFACCA/Artshub,
08 May 2002, Netherlands

Netherlands State Secretary for Culture, Rick Van der Ploeg has recently honoured two requests for the restitution of artworks recovered from Germany after the Second World War. The requests are in relation to the painting Het Paaslam (The Passover) by Joachim Beuckelaer, as well as works belonging to the Gutmann collection. The works are to be restored to the legal heirs of the original owners.

The restitution decisions are the first to be taken in response to recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Assessment of Restitution Applications. Following investigation into the provenance of the works in question, the committee advised their restitution.

The Passover by Beuckelaer had been owned by a Jewish couple who had ‘involuntarily’ lost the work during the period 1938-1941. After the war, the work ended up in the Netherlands Art Property Collection (NK collection) after it had been mistakenly attributed to a Dutch owner. The painting is currently on loan to the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht.

Two hundred and thirty-three works of art, including paintings, furniture, china and cutlery make up the Guttman collection. The investigation identified that these works had been ‘involuntarily sold’ between 1940-1942