[MSN] THE National Gallery of Victoria has been hit with a demand for the return of a valuable Dutch masterpiece allegedly looted by Nazis from a prominent Jewish family in the 1930s.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Claim on gallery's 'Nazi-loot' art
Rick Wallace 
February 13, 2007 

THE National Gallery of Victoria has been hit with a demand for the return
of a valuable Dutch masterpiece allegedly looted by Nazis from a prominent
Jewish family in the 1930s.
Lawyers for the descendants of the original owners of the Gerard ter Borch
painting Lady with a Fan have issued a formal demand for the painting after
informal talks over its ownership ended without agreement. 
The painting is worth between $100,000 and $1 million. If the Emden family's
claim is successful, the painting would be the first looted work in
Australia to be returned to its Jewish owners. 

The painting belonged to Jewish retail magnate Max Emden, who fled Hamburg
ahead of Nazi rule leaving much of his massive art collection behind. His
grandson, Chile-based Juan Carlos Emden, has told The Australian the ter
Borch painting was one of about 100 stolen during the Holocaust. Mr Emden is
planning to visit Melbourne to demand the painting's return. 

"There is no doubt that the painting was aryanised from the Max Emden
collection in or about 1938," his request says, in response to demands from
the NGV for Mr Emden to prove the ter Borch is rightfully his. 

The Australian first revealed the claim last year using documents obtained
under Freedom of Information laws. 

A spokeswoman said the gallery had begun assessing Mr Emden's claim. "The
NGV has very clear policies about returning an artwork if it should be found
to belong to another person. We welcome the fact that Mr Emden has now made
a formal claim ... and we have accordingly instigated the process to assess
it," she said.