[MSN] Gallery painting 'may be Nazi loot'

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Gallery painting 'may be Nazi loot'
By Xavier La Canna

21aug06 A CHILEAN man has claimed a 17th century artwork on display at 
the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) may have been looted from his 
grandfather by Nazis.

It emerged today that the family of famous Jewish collector Max Emden 
approached the NGV in 2004 to question whether the painting, Lady with a 
Fan, could have been stolen by Nazis after he fled Germany in the 1920s.

Mr Emden lived in Switzerland at the beginning of World War II, but 
later settled in Chile, where his heirs now live.

The NGV's website has listed the painting as one of 24 of questionable 
provenance, and shows it was bought by Max Emden in 1913.

There is a gap in its history until it was acquired from the Wildenstein 
art dealers in London for the NGV in 1945.

The New York Times newspaper has linked the Wildenstein dealers to 
artworks purchased from Nazis.

In 2003, a French court found in favour of the author of the book, The 
Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of 
Art, who was being sued by the Wildenstein family, the New York Times 
reported.

Lady with a Fan was painted by Dutch artist Gerard ter Borch in about 1660.

The deputy director of the NGV, Tony Elwood, today said the artwork, 
worth about $100,000, might have been taken to Switzerland by Mr Emden.

He said there were no records yet found that indicated where the 
Wildensteins purchased the painting.

Mr Elwood said the grandson of Mr Emden had not made an official claim 
for the artwork, but only queried whether it might have been illegally 
confiscated by Nazis.

The NGV was the first gallery in Australia to list works that had 
questionable history, and would return any artwork determined to have 
been looted by Nazis, Mr Elwood said.

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