062/06
27 April 2006
Government To Make An Ex-Gratia Payment Of £175,000 For Four Old Master Drawings Lost In The Nazi Era But Now In The British Museum
The Government has accepted the recommendation of the independent Spoliation Advisory Panel (the Panel) to make an ex gratia payment of £175,000 to the heirs of Dr Arthur Feldmann in compensation for four drawings which were seized by the Nazi Gestapo in 1939, Culture Minister David Lammy announced today.
The drawings were acquired some years later by the British Museum in London, who had no idea of their tainted history. The Museum has fully supported the claim throughout, and is delighted with the outcome.
The drawings in question are:
The Holy Family by Niccolo dell'Abbate;
An Allegory on Poetic Inspiration with Mercury and Apollo by Nicholas Blakey;
Virgin and Infant Christ, adored by St Elizabeth and the Infant St John by Martin Johann Schmidt; and
St Dorothy with the Christ Child by School of Martin Schöngauer.
The claim to the Panel was supported by a joint submission on behalf of the claimants and the British Museum proposing that the claimants should be compensated for the full value of the drawings, and that the drawings should remain in the British Museum.
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. Three of the drawings were acquired at auction by the British Museum in 1946, and the fourth in 1949 as part of a bequest.
The claim was originally presented to the Panel in May 2002 but withdrawn following a High Court decision that the British Museum was unable to return the drawings, even though it felt morally obliged to do so, because of Section 3 of the British Museum Act 1963 requiring the Trustees not to dispose of objects vested in them as part of their collections.
The Panel has recommended to the Government that legislation should be introduced to permit restitution of objects such as this one which were spoliated during the Nazi era.
David Lammy said:
"It is important that questions of ownership arising from the terrible events of the Second World War Nazi era are resolved. I believe that the preferred solution put forward by the claimants and the British Museum and its strong endorsement by the Panel, is the most appropriate way to proceed in this case.
"The Panel also recommended that an ex gratia payment be made to the heirs of Dr Feldmann. It would not be right for this to be met by the British Museum – who had no idea that the works were tainted, and have acted with honour throughout – so the Government is very happy to step in and make the payment.
"On the wider issue of museum restitution, I am currently taking expert advice on how to bring forward legislation to help put right these historic wrongs. I hope to seek public views on proposals shortly."
Notes to Editors
1. The Panel's report findings are available here.
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).
3. 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.
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