Tate Britain is planning to return 17th century paintings to the family of Jewish Belgian art collectors after being taken from his home by the Nazis during World War II.
Painter Henry Gibbs’ 1654 work, Aeneas and his family fled Burning Troy, and the Nazis were deemed “an act of racial persecution,” the Sporadic Advisory Committee, which examined the case of looted artwork.
The panel settles claims from people or their heirs who lost ownership of cultural property during the Nazi era, currently being held at the UK national collection.
The art collector’s heir and great grandson Samuel Hartveld received the work he left behind in Antwerp, Belgium in 1940 and fled the country with his wife, the British government said.
Minister of the Arts Chris Bryant praised the panel for “helping us reunite our family with our most precious possessions,” calling it the “right decision.”
The painting, currently not displayed by Tate, depicts a scene from Virgil’s grand Latin poem, “Aeneid,” and is considered to be an explanation of the British civil war.
I purchased the Tate collection from Gallery Jean de Maerée in Brussels in 1994. The panel said after Rene Van Den Brock purchased Hartbede’s collection and home for “a small sum.”
He survived the war, but was not reunited with his collection of artwork, which many believed to be in galleries around Europe.
The Sonia Klein Trust, founded last year by Hartvede’s heirs, began claiming.
Now in a new statement, the councillor said he is “deeply grateful” for the decision to return the artwork.
Tate Director Maria Barchaux said “it is a deep privilege to help you reunite with a legitimate heir,” and “we were pleased to see the sporadic process working well to make this happen.”
“The source of the artwork was extensively investigated when it was acquired in 1994, but no significant facts regarding the previous ownership of the painting were known.”
She went on to say she was looking forward to returning the painting to trust in the coming months.
