The three drawings form part of the Witt bequest of over 3,000 Old Master Drawings which was made to the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London in 1952. The Courtauld Institute – who had no idea that the works were stolen - acquired independent legal status in 2002 giving it full legal title over the drawings.
The drawings in question are:
A lion, attributed to Carl Ruthart (1630-1703);
A dog lying down, attributed to Frans Van Mieris the elder (1635-1681);
An architectural capriccio, attributed to Giuseppe Bibiena (1696-1756).
The claim to the Panel was brought on behalf of the heirs to Dr Feldmann in 2006.
The Panel concluded that there was firm evidence showing that the drawings were seized from Dr Feldmann's home by the Gestapo in March 1939. The drawings were then acquired at a Sotheby's auction on 16 October 1946 by Messrs Colnaghi, and sold on the same day to Witt. It is not known who the vendor to Sotheby’s was.
The Panel recommended that the drawings should be returned to the claimants.
The Courtauld Institute of Art has announced today that it will return two of the looted drawings in its collection to the heirs of Dr Arthur Feldmann. The third drawing, attributed to Frans Van Mieris the elder and acknowledged to have been looted, is to be presented to the Courtauld by Dr Feldmann’s heirs.
David Lammy said:
"It is of the utmost importance that questions of ownership arising from the terrible events of the Second World War are resolved, and that proper amends are made to those who lost works of art at the hands of the Nazis.
“I am grateful to Sir David Hirst and the members of the Spoliation Advisory Panel for producing yet another concise and well researched report. I commend the report and agree with the Panel's recommendation".
Notes to Editors
1. The Panel's report findings are now available online on the DCMS Website.
2. The then Arts Minister Alan Howarth announced the setting up of a Panel to help resolve claims on art looted during the Nazi era on 17 February 2000 (DCMS News Release 35\2000) and the full membership of the Panel on 13 April (DCMS News Release 84\2000).
The Declaration of Principles agreed at the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets of December 1998 states, among the other principles, that:
• pre-War owners and their heirs should be encouraged to come forward and make known their claims to art confiscated by the Nazis and not subsequently restituted;
• if the pre-War owners of art that is found to have been confiscated by the Nazis and not subsequently restituted, or their heirs, can be identified, steps should be taken expeditiously to achieve a just and fair solution, recognising this may vary according to the facts and circumstances surrounding a specific case.
