London
The National Gallery is trying to track down the provenance of 120 paintings which have an uncertain history for the Nazi years, in order to ensure that none was looted.
“No claims have been received and no evidence has emerged to suggest that any of our pictures were looted, but it seemed sensible to look closely at provenances for the 1933-45 period,” explained National Gallery (NG) director Neil MacGregor.
He admits that national museums in the UK have been encouraged to undertake this research by the government: “The Department for Culture, Media and Sport asked us to consider the matter.”
Last November the National Museum Directors’ Conference approved a detailed paper on the “Spoliation of works of art during the Holocaust and World War II period”. As part of the proposed research programme, individual museums were invited to identify “objects for which provenance is unknown for any point during the years 1933-45”. Each museum was asked to designate a person to handle research and inquiries, and curator Humphrey Wine is coordinating the NG’s efforts.
Of the 2,400 paintings in the NG, 470 have been acquired since 1933. Initial checks revealed that of the post-1933 acquisitions, there were just over 130 cases where the provenance for part of the 1933-45 period was uncertain.
Detailed research was begun last December, with dealers and auction houses known to have handled the works being contacted. Private collectors who had owned the pictures were also approached, with executors and descendants often traced through the Probate Registry.
The National Gallery also commissioned the Art Loss Register in London to check the 130 pictures against their records, but so far none has shown up.
Dr Wine says that new information from earlier owners has cleared up the full provenance for a dozen pictures. This leaves 120 works “whose whereabouts at particular moments between 1933-45 cannot with confidence be specified”. These include masterpieces by Caravaggio, Giordano, Rubens, Van Dyck, La Hyre, Tiepolo, Friedrich, Delacroix, Courbet, Pissarro, Renoir, Degas, Monet and Picasso.
Asked why the research on the Nazi period was not been done decades ago, Mr MacGregor emphasised that concern has only emerged very recently. “Museums everywhere only began to see it as an important issue within the last few years. Until then it was not identified as a problem,” he explained. This change in attitudes is illustrated by the example of Bosschaert’s “Flowers in a vase”, which was acquired by the NG only five years ago. In announcing the bequest, the NG Annual Report merely recorded that the unknown picture had been bought in Switzerland “shortly after World War II” As recently as October 1996, the NG bought Monet’s “La Pointe de la Hève, Sainte-Adresse” without fully checking the provenance for the Nazi period.
The list of 120 works has been supplied to The Art Newspaper, at our request, and it is being published here for the first time.
Although the NG is currently compiling new provenance information which will become publicly available, this work is not yet complete and in a very few cases some of the details remain confidential.
The Art Newspaper therefore set out to reconstruct what is known about the provenance of the 120 works. Our main sources were NG catalogues and annual reports, and information supplied by NG curators.
In publishing the list, we hope that readers may be able to help fill in some of the gaps. Any further information should be sent directly to Humphrey Wine at the NG (fax +44 (0)171 753 8179). It should be stressed once again that there is absolutely no evidence that any of the pictures on the list has been looted, but the inquiries now underway are precautionary.
Other UK museums
Other UK national museums are planning similar research into their collections, although none are as advanced as the NG because of the nature of their collections. The provenances of oil paintings are much easier to track than those of other works, such as prints, decorative art or antiquities. The National Gallery has a small number of well-documented masterpieces, compared with the huge collections of other museums (the British Museum has seven million objects, while the NG owns 2,400 works). All the museums are currently producing individual Action Plans which will set out how they intend to tackle the task, all due to be completed later this month.
The British Museum’s research is being coordinated by Giulia Bartrum, a curator in the Prints and Drawings Department who is a specialist in German graphic art. The British Museum is likely to begin with its drawing collection, compiling a list of works for which the provenance for 1933-45 is unclear. Previous owners on this list will then be compared against a listing of “suspect” dealers and collectors, and this should provide a basis for further investigation.
Ms Bartrum has also been dealing with the Baldung drawing of “The rape of Europa”, which was looted in 1941 from the Lubomirski Museum in Lviv and formed part of a bequest to the British Museum in 1997. The case, revealed in The Art Newspaper (September 1998, No.84, p.4), represents a complex situation, since the American authorities returned the drawing to a member of the Lubomirski family. Although institutions in both Lviv (Ukraine) and Wroclaw (Poland) are now calling for the return of the Lubomirski Museum drawings, no formal legal claim has been made.
The Tate Gallery has appointed Company Secretary Sharon Page to handle the tasking of checking the collection. Initially work is expected to concentrate on European oil paintings. Works on paper are generally of lesser importance and British paintings would obviously be much less likely to have been looted on the Continent. The Tate’s international modern collection totals about 600 pictures and obviously only those painted before 1945 will have to be investigated, which will amount to just several hundred works.
The Victoria and Albert Museum faces a more daunting challenge, because of the size and scope of its holdings. The initial effort is expected to concentrate on oil paintings, watercolours and drawings acquired since 1933. The museum has not appointed a European specialist to deal with the task, but the Curator of the Indian and South-East Asian Department (and museum Chief Curator), Deborah Swallow. This is in recognition that a museum collecting material from the Third World has to face other issues relating to looting.
The American scene
Last June the US Association of Art Museum Directors also issued guidelines on the issue of Nazi looting. It urged its 175 museums to “begin to review the provenance of works in their collections to attempt to ascertain whether they were unlawfully confiscated during the Nazi/World War II era and never restituted.”
Many American museums have begun this task, although none has reached the stage of London’s National Gallery. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has designated staff in its nineteen curatorial departments, and work is now underway on checking items acquired since World War II. At the Art Institute of Chicago, four researchers have been hired to work with curators. Director James Wood explained: “We have done an initial review of objects, checking existing provenance against a list of collectors, dealers and agents who might possibly be problematic. Thus far, we have found no works which can be demonstrated to have been looted and not restituted.”
To be investigated with care
The Art Newspaper believes that the following eight pictures out of the list of 120 warrant particular attention because they appear to have been on the Continent in unknown collections during the 1930s. There is no evidence, at present, though that they were looted.
o BOSSCHAERT “Flowers in a vase”. When bequeathed by Edward Speelman in 1994, the NG stated that “nothing is known of its early provenance before it was purchased by Speelman in Switzerland shortly after World War II.” Recent inquiries suggest that before Speelman bought it, the picture was probably in the collection of a Canadian family near Genoa. It was with the Kurt Meissner Gallery in Zurich by the 1960s.
o COQUES
(IMITATOR) Portrait of a woman. This belonged to Elizabeth Carstairs, the widow of Charles Carstairs, chairman of the Knoedler Gallery of New York and London. Mrs Carstairs died in 1949 in Paris and the painting was bequeathed to the NG in 1952. Nothing is known of its earlier provenance. On the back of the picture is a seal with an inscription in Hebrew, which has not been identified.
o COURBET Still-life with apples. This belonged to the collection of Raphaël Gérard in Paris and next appeared at the Daber Gallery in Paris in 1949. The 1946 report on dealers involved in handling looted art, prepared by the Office of Strategic Services of the US War Department, listed the Paris-based Daber Gallery, although the comments should be treated with caution (The Art Newspaper, No. 88, January 1999, p. 11). The declassified document states on Daber: “Reported to have indicated to the Germans the whereabouts of Jewish collections in France. Alleged to have held a German pass which permitted him to travel throughout France during the occupation.” The picture was purchased by the NG in 1951.
o DELACROIX Christ on the Cross. In the collection of Jules Strauss in the 1920s, and auctioned by him on 15 December 1932. It then passed into an unknown collection and reappeared at the Daber Gallery in Paris in 1975, which sold it to the NG the following year.
o FRENCH
(SIXTEENTH CENTURY) Cleopatra. Belonged to Maurice Woolff Jacobson, a dealer based in Paris and London. He died in 1943 and at this point the picture was in France. The painting was bequeathed to the NG, but it was not until 1947 that it was recovered from Paris.
o MONET Petit Bras of the Seine. This was owned by two unidentified owners, Laederich and then Turckheim, before being acquired by the Arthur Tooth Gallery in London in 1955. Bequeathed to the NG in 1971.
o MONET La Pointe de la Hève Sainte-Adresse. The picture was acquired by the Neue Staatsgalerie in Munich in 1907, but was sold in 1940, when it was deaccessioned under the Nazis, possibly to help raise money to buy a work by the German artist Hans Thoma. The next owner, according to the Wildenstein catalogue raisonné, was the Wildenstein gallery in Paris. The question is whether the Monet was indeed purchased directly by Wildenstein—or if it might have gone through other owners before reaching the gallery. The declassified Office of Strategic Services report suggested that the Wildenstein gallery was in contact with other galleries which were regarded as collaborators: “Wildenstein: In touch with Haberstock in 1942. Possessed full knowledge Dequoy’s transactions subsequent to ‘aryanization’ of the Wildenstein firm. In contact with Fabiani, summer 1945, who occupied his suite at the Dorchester in London.” (The Art Newspaper, No.88, January 1999, p.14). The Monet was sold by Wildenstein to Mr and Mrs Norman B. Woolworth of New York, and the picture was subsequently offered at Christie’s in 1964 and Sotheby’s in 1996. It was purchased by the NG after the picture failed to sell at auction.
o VAN DE VELDE Ships in a calm. The Van de Velde catalogue raisonné by M.S. Robinson suggests that this seascape may have been “in the art trade in Basel in 1942 and in the collection of Professor Ruzicka, Zurich, in 1947”, but admits that this is uncertain. In 1948 it was with Agnew’s, London, which had bought it from the Edward Speelman Gallery in London, which in turn had probably purchased it from J.S. McKay of Hythe. The Van de Velde was presented to the NG in 1981. M.B.
The complete list of pictures*... ...with a partially undocumented history for 1933-45
ANDREA DI BONAIUTO (attributed), Virgin and Child with ten saints, NG5115. Prov: Mrs Frederic W.H. Myers, until 1937; her daughter Mrs R.F.P. Blennerhassett; presented to NG, 1940. BATONI, Portrait of John Scott (?), NG6308. Prov: Col. C.E. Commeline; Mrs E.M.E. Commeline; bequeathed to NG, 1960. BATONI, Time orders Old Age to destroy Beauty, NG6316. Prov: Christie’s, London, 20 March 1959; Agnew’s (D), London; purchased by NG, 1961. BAYEU, St James visited by the Virgin, NG6501. Prov: Private collection, USA; Trafalgar Galleries (D), London; purchased by NG, 1985. BLANCOUR, Bowl of flowers, NG6358. Prov: Misses M.E. and C.M. Blencow, UK; Sotheby’s, London, 28 April 1954; Captain Edward George Spencer-Churchill, Northwick Park, Gloucestershire; bequeathed to NG, 1964. BOSSCHAERT, Flowers in a vase, NG6549. Prov: Switzerland, possibly shortly after 1945; a Canadian family near Genoa; Kurt Meissner (D), Zurich, 1960s; Edward Speelman (D), London; bequeathed by Mr Speelman to NG, 1994. BOUDIN, Brussels harbour, NG6530. Prov: Drouot auction, Paris, 17 June 1921; Marlborough Fine Art (D), London; Kenneth Levy, London, 1958; bequeathed to NG, 1990. BOULLOGNE, Nessus and Dejanira, NG6500. Prov: Mr & Mrs Paul Ganz, USA, by 1972; Jeffery Daniels, London; bequeathed to NG, 1986. BRUSSEL, Flowers in a vase, NG5174. Prov: Rayner MacConnal (D), London; Sir Arthur Jackson, UK; bequeathed to NG, 1940. CAMPIN (workshop), Portrait of a man, NG6377. Prov: Arthur Leonard Nicholson, London; Bonhams, 19 August 1965; Agnew’s (D), London; purchased by NG, 1966. CAMPIN (workshop), Virgin and Child, NG6514. Prov: Melanie von Habsburg-Lothringen, Schloss Seisenegg, Austria; Edward Speelman (D), London; purchased by NG, 1987. CARAVAGGIO, Salome with the head of St John the Baptist, NG6389. Prov: Swiss private collection, 1959; Agnew’s (D) and Rudolf Heineman, London; Major A.E. Allnatt, London, 1961; purchased by NG, 1970. CAVALLINO, Christ driving traders from the Temple, NG4778. Prov: Ettore Sestieri (D), Rome, 1921; Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi, by 1934; presented to NG, 1935. CHAMPAIGNE, Vision of St Joseph, NG6276. Prov: Auction, Paris, 22 May 1919; Reginald Rives; auction, Paris, 24 December 1948; Jacques Seligmann (D), New York; purchased by NG, 1957. CIPPER (style), Head of a man in red, Head of a man in blue, NG5468-9. Prov: Maurice Woolff Jacobson (D), Paris and London; bequeathed by Mr Jacobson to NG, 1944. COQUES (imitator), Portrait of a woman, NG6160. Prov: Elizabeth Carstairs, London; bequeathed to NG, 1952 (Hebrew inscription on reverse). CORNELIS VAN HAARLEM, St John preaching, NG6443. Prov: M.A. Mechen; Phillips, London, 14 March 1977; Edward Speelman (D), London; purchased by NG, 1978. COROT, Peasants under trees, NG6439. Prov: Tony Mayer, France, 1965; Daber (D), Paris; purchased by NG, 1977. COROT, The oak in the valley, NG6466. Prov: Monsieur Surville; Rudolph Ernst Brandt, London; Mrs Alice Bleecker; presented to NG, 1981. COROT, Souvenir of Palleul, NG6467. Prov: Monsieur Préault; Arthur Tooth (D), London; Rudolph Ernst Brandt, London; Mrs Alice Bleecker; presented to NG, 1981. COROT, Landscape at Arleux, NG6531. Prov: Alfred Robaut, Paris, by 1905; M. Verdier; Arthur Tooth (D), London; Kenneth Levy, London, 1936; bequeathed to NG, 1990. COURBET, Still life with apples, NG5983. Prov: Latouche; Raphaël Gérard, Paris; exhibited at Daber (D), Paris, 1949; Arthur Tooth (D), London; purchased by NG, 1951. COURBET, Young ladies on the Seine, NG6355. Prov: J.B. Stang, Kristiania, Norway, 1917; Sotheby’s, London, 1 July 1964; purchased by NG. COURBET, Beach scene, NG6396. Prov: Roland-Browse & Delbanco (D), London; Sir Robert Hart, London; bequeathed to NG, 1971. CRANACH, Cupid complaining to Venus, NG6344. Prov: Mr and Mrs Dickson Hartwell, NY, by 1962; E. and A. Silbermann (D), NY; purchased by NG, 1963. CRESPI, St Jerome in the Desert, NG6345. Prov: Balboni (D), Rome; Colnaghi’s (D), London, 1963; purchased by NG, 1963. DEGAS, Woman drying herself, NG6295. Prov: Degas auction, Paris, 11-3 December 1918; Georges Viau, Paris; auction, Paris, 11 December 1942; Lefevre (D), London; Harry Walston, UK, c1950; lent to Tate Gallery, 1950-1 and 1958; purchased by NG, 1959. DELACROIX, Christ on the Cross, NG6433. Prov: Jules Strauss, Baron Denys Cochin, Paris, 1910; auction, 26 March 1919; Jules Strauss, by 1928; auction, 15 December 1932; Daber (D), Paris, 1975; purchased by NG, 1976. DENIS, S., Sunset in the Roman Campagna, NG6562. Prov: Private collector, France; Loudmer, Paris, 19 December 1994; St Just Fine Arts (D), London; purchased by NG, 1996. DETROY, Time unveiling Truth, NG6454. Prov: Samuel Howard, Perthshire; Christie’s, London, 22 March 1935; Fauteil; Dr E.I. Schapiro, by 1968; Christie’s, London, 30 March 1979 (withdrawn); purchased by NG, 1979. DOLCI, Adoration of the Kings, NG6523. Prov: Walmesley, UK, 1889; private collection, Buenos Aires; Sotheby’s, NY, 2 June 1989; Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox (D), London; purchased by NG, 1991. FRENCH (16th C), Cleopatra, NG5762. Prov: Maurice Woolff Jacobson (D), Paris and London, 1944; recovered in France (Jacobson is believed to have acquired the work in Paris); bequeathed by Mr Jacobson to NG, 1947. FRENCH (17th C), Visitation, NG5448. Prov: Lord Boston, Hedsor, Bucks; Christie’s, London, 6 March 1942; Leger (D), London; Colnaghi’s (D), London; purchased by NG, 1944. FRENCH (c1760), Portrait of Madame De Gléon (?), NG5584. Prov: Probably Duchess of Manchester, UK, until 1909; Emilie Yznaga (sister of Duchess), Paris; bequeathed to NG, 1945. FRIEDRICH, Winter landscape, NG6517.
Prov: Private collection (possibly from the family of Prince Gregorii Grehorevich Gagarin), Paris, 1982; Christie’s, Monaco, 7 December 1987; purchased by NG. FYT (attributed), Still life with fruit, NG6335. Prov: Claude Dickason Rotch, London, by 1953; bequeathed to NG, 1962. GAERTNER, The Friedrichsgracht, NG6524. Prov: Ernst-Jürgen Otto, Berlin, until c1950; private collection, Munich; Hildegard Fritz-Denneville Fine Arts (D), London; purchased by NG, 1989. GIAQUINTO, Apotheosis of the Spanish monarchy, NG6229. Prov: Bought in Brussels (unattributed) by Herbert Bier, 1954; Matthiesen (D), London, 1954; purchased by NG, 1954. GIAQUINTO, The brazen serpent and Moses striking the rock, NG6515-6. Prov: Private collection, Rome; Colnaghi’s (D), London, 1975; private collection, Switzerland; Matthiesen Fine Art (D), London, 1986; purchased by NG, 1987. GIORDANO, Martyrdom of St Januarius, NG 6327. Prov: Florentine dealer, pre-1939; Rome; Colnaghi’s (D), London; purchased by NG, 1962. GIORDANO, Perseus turning Phineas and his followers to stone, NG6487. Prov: Christie’s, London, 2 December 1980; Matthiesen Fine Art (D), London; purchased by NG, 1983. GOYEN, The mouth of an estuary with a gateway, NG6464. Prov: Rudolph Ernst Brandt, London; Alice Bleecker, presented to NG, 1981. GUARDI, The Punta della Dogana and The Giudecca with the Zitelle, NG6156-7. Prov: Sabin, 1911; Charles and Elizabeth Carstairs, London and NY; bequeathed to NG, 1952. HEDA (attributed), Still life with nautilus cup, NG6336. Prov: Claude Dickason Rotch, London; bequeathed to NG, 1962 . JONGKIND, Boulevard de Port-Royal, NG6529. Prov: M.L. Tauber (possibly Dauber), Paris, 1921; Kenneth Levy, London; bequeathed to NG, 1990. KØBKE, The northern drawbridge to the Citadel, NG6507. Prov: Th. Lyngby (D), Copenhagen, 1912; Hans Tobiesen, Copenhagen, 1944; Winkel and Magnussen auction, Copenhagen, October 1953; Bogh Andersen; Sotheby’s, London, 17 June 1986; purchased by NG. KØBKE, Portrait of Wilhelm Bendz, NG6542. Prov: Martin Grosell (D), Copenhagen, by 1921; Hjalmar Bruhn, Copenhagen, by 1934; Danske Malerier Antikviter auction, Copenhagen, 9 March 1959; private collector, Denmark; Christie’s, London (not auctioned); purchased by NG, 1993. KOEKKOEK, View of Oudewater, NG6472. Prov: Miss I. M. Hawkins Turner, London; bequeathed to NG, 1982. LA HYRE, Allegory of Grammar, NG6329. Prov: André Seligmann (D), Paris, by 1937; Francis Falconer Madan, London, 1938; bequeathed to NG, 1961. LANCRET, The Four Times of the Day, NG5867-70. Prov: Christie’s, London, 22 February 1935; Vicars; Sir Bernard Eckstein, London; bequeathed to NG, 1948. LASTMAN, Juno, Jupiter and Io, NG6272. Prov: Max Koetser (D), London; Christie’s, London, 3 May 1957; Doward; Julius Weitzner, NY; presented to NG, 1957. LEPINE, Nuns and schoolgirls in the Tuileries Gardens, NG6364. Prov: Arnold & Tripp (D), Paris; Mrs H.W. Rawlinson; presented to NG, 1963 (name “Megret” is on reverse). LE SUEUR, St Paul preaching, NG6299. Prov: Hender Delves Molesworth, London, 1957; Colnaghi’s (D), London; purchased by NG, 1959. LEYSTER, Boy and girl with cat and eel, NG5417. Prov: Auction, London, 8 July 1910; Reynolds (D), London; Mrs Holbrook, Burton-on-Trent; Christie’s, London, 17 February 1939; Vicars; C.F. Leach, Surrey; bequeathed to NG, 1943. MARIS, J., Girl seated outside a house, NG5568
Prov: Christie’s, unknown date; Frank Claughton Mathews, Hampshire; Mary James Mathews; bequeathed to Tate Gallery, 1944; transferred to NG, 1956. MASTER OF ST BARTHOLOMEW, Triptych with Virgin and Child and Saints James and Cecilia, NG6497. Prov: Christie’s, London, 14 December 1984; purchased by NG, 1984. MEISSONIER, A man in black smoking a pipe, NG6468. Prov: Rudolph Ernst Brandt, London; Mrs Alice Bleecker; presented to NG, 1981. MELONE, Christ carrying Cross, NG6546. Prov: S. Isepp, by 1949; Mrs S. Isepp; Sotheby’s, London, 26 June 1957; Philip Pouncey, London; purchased by NG, 1993. MILLET (follower), Landscape with buildings, NG6253. Prov: Mrs Bloomfield Moore, Philadelphia, 1901; Fine Art Society (D), London, 1938; Sir Victor Wellesley, UK; bequeathed to NG, 1954. MOLENAER, Two boys and a girl making music, NG5416. Prov: Auction, London, 12 June 1931; Leyman, C.F. Leach, Surrey, by 1941; bequeathed to NG, 1943. MONET, Petit Bras of the Seine, NG6395. Prov: Laederich; Turckheim; Arthur Tooth (D), London, 1955; Sir Robert Hart, London; bequeathed to NG, 1971. MONET, Thames below Westminster, NG6399. Prov: Stored with Cassirer (D), Berlin; seized by the German Government, 1914; Alfred Gold (D), Berlin; Arthur Tooth (D), London; Lord Astor of Hever, 1936; bequeathed to NG, 1971. MONET, The museum at Le Havre, NG6527. Prov: Durand-Ruel (D), Paris, 1912; Arthur Tooth (D), London; Kenneth Levy, London, 1936; bequeathed to NG, 1990. MONET, The Pointe de la Hève, Sainte-Adresse, NG6565. Prov: Neue. Staatsgalerie, Munich, 1907; deaccessioned under the Nazis, 1940; Wildenstein (D), Paris and NY; Mr and Mrs Norman B. Woolworth, NY, 1954; Christie’s, London, 19 June 1964; Agnew’s (D), private collection, UK; London; Sotheby’s, London, 24 June 1996 (unsold); acquired by NG, 1996. MOREAU, St George, NG6436. Prov: Arthur Tooth (D), London; purchased by NG, 1976. NATTIER, Portrait of a man in armour, NG5587. Prov: Probably Duchess of Manchester, UK, until 1909; Emilie Yznaga (sister of Duchess), Paris; bequeathed to NG, 1945. NEAPOLITAN, Portrait of a lady, NG6254. Prov: Ernst Remak, Berlin, 1920s; unidentified dealer, Rome; Frederick Antal, Rome and London; presented by Mrs E. Antal to NG, 1955. NETHERLANDISH (c1640), Portrait of a Girl with a parrot, NG6498. Prov: Lady Colman, UK; 1985; bequeathed to NG, 1985. OS, Fruit and flowers in a terracotta vase, NG6520. Prov: Sir William Churchman, Suffolk, by 1947; Violet Churchman; presented to NG, 1988. PANINI, Rome, interior of St Peter’s, NG5362. Prov: Du Cane, Braxted Park, Essex; auction, London, 30 April 1942; F.A. Drey; purchased by NG, 1942. PARET, View of El Arenal de Bilbao, NG6489. Prov: Christie’s, London, 24 March 1922; Bertram Bell, Dublin; Christie’s, London, 2 December 1983; Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox (D), London; purchased by NG, 1983. PATEL, Rest on the Flight to Egypt, NG6513. Prov: Christie’s, Bologna, 27-8 September 1986; Didier Aaron (D), NY; purchased by NG, 1988. PELLEGRINI, Rebecca at the well, NG6332. Prov: Claude Dickason Rotch, London, 1950s; bequeathed to NG, 1962. PELLEGRINI, Marriage of Elector Palatine, NG6328. Prov: Sotheby’s, London, 4 April 1962; purchased by NG. PEYRON, Belisarius and Cornelia, NG6551-2. Prov: Private collection, France; Japhet auction, Nice, 15 December 1994; Michael Simpson (D), London; purchased by NG, 1995. PICASSO, Fruit dish, bottle and violin, NG6449. Prov: Count Etienne de Beaumont, Paris; Marlborough Fine Art (D), 1979; purchased by NG, 1979. PISSARRO, The Avenue, Sydenham, NG6493. Prov: Durand-Ruel (D), Paris, until 1924-32; private collection, Switzerland, by 1938; Christie’s, London, 26 March 1984; Lefevre (D), London; purchased by NG, 1984. PRETI, Marriage at Cana, NG6372. Prov: Gerace, Naples, before 1959; Dr Vitale Bloch (D); purchased by NG, 1966. PREVITALI (attributed), Scenes from an Eclogue, NG4884.1-2. Prov: Count da Porto, Vicenza, until 1936; Podio, Venice; Salzer, Vienna; purchased by NG, 1937. REDON, Ophelia among the flowers, NG6438. Prov: Sold, Paris, 1945; César de Hauke, 1948; Mr & Mrs Albert D. Lasker, USA; Marlborough Fine Art (D), London; purchased by NG, 1977. RENOIR, A Nymph by a stream, NG5982. Prov: Raphaël Gerard, Paris, 1927; Sir Victor Schuster, London, by 1942; Lefevre (D), London, by 1948; purchased by NG, 1951. RENOIR, Moulin Huet Bay, NG6204. Prov: Emile Staub, Männedorf, Switzerland, 1916; Wildenstein (D), London; purchased by Tate Gallery, 1954; transferred to NG, 1961. RENOIR, Lakeside landscape, NG6528. Prov: Lefevre (D), London, 1936; Kenneth Levy, London; bequeathed to NG, 1990. RIGAUD, Antoine Paris, NG6428. Prov: Mme. Gosset, 1917; vicomtesse de Fontanges; Heim (D), London; purchased by NG, 1975. ROSLIN, Portrait of the Dauphin, NG5588. Prov: Probably Duchess of Manchester, UK, until 1909; Emilie Yznaga (sister of Duchess), Paris; bequeathed to NG, 1945. RUBENS, Judgement of Paris, NG6379. Prov: A. Coulter, York, between 1934-40; Robert Savage, Northampton; Mrs Savage; purchased by NG, 1966 (name “Ballen” is on reverse). RUYSCH, Flowers in a vase, NG6425. Prov: Alan Newton Aidan Evans, London, 1974; bequeathed to NG, 1974. SARACENI, Moses defending the daughters of Jethro, NG6446. Prov: Vitale Bloch (D); Benedict Nicolson, London, 1954; bequeathed to NG, 1978. SCHNORR VON CAROLSFELD, Ruth in Boaz’s field, NG6570. Prov: Herr Hofr. Carus; private collection, US; Sotheby’s, NY, 24 October 1996; French & Co (D), NY; purchased by NG, 1997. SIMONINI (attributed), A campaign scene, NG5465. Prov: Frederick Cavendish; presented to Tate. Gallery, 1944; transferred to NG. SOLIMENA, Dido receiving Aeneas, NG6397. Prov: Heim (D), London; purchased by NG, 1971. SOLIMENA, Allegory of Louis XIV, NG6521 . Prov: Maratille (D), Italy; Colnaghi’s (D), London, 1964; Sir Philip Hendy, London; bequeathed to NG, 1989. STROZZI, Personification of fame, N6321. Prov: Private collection, England, 1930s; Malcolm Waddingham (D), UK; purchased by NG, 1961. TAILLASSON, Virgil reading the Aeneid, NG6426. Prov: Alfred Olsen, Copenhagen; Rasmussen auction, Copenhagen, 2 December 1954; Rasmussen auction, Copenhagen, 8 October 1964; Heim (D), London; purchased by NG, 1974 . TIEPOLO, Two men in oriental costume, Rinaldo turning in shame, Seated man and woman with jar, Two Orientals under a tree, NG6302-5. Prov: Baroness Willy Rothschild, Frankfurt, 1902; lent anonymously to exhibition in Amsterdam, 1934; Madame de Becker, NY; Rosenberg and Stiebel; purchased by NG, 1960. UYTTENBROEK, Landscape with figures, NG6476. Prov: Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox (D), London; Christie’s, London, 23 April 1982; purchased by NG, 1982. VAN DE VELDE, E., Winter landscape, NG6269. Prov: Sotheby’s, London, 4 July 1956; Eugene Slatter (D), London; purchased by NG, 1957. VAN DE VELDE, W., Ships in a calm, NG6465. Prov: Possibly on Basel art market, 1942; possibly Professor Ruzicka, Zurich, 1947; J.S. McKay, Hythe, 1948; Edward Speelman (D), London, 1948; Agnew’s (D), London, 1948; Rudolph Ernst Brandt, 1948; Alice Bleecker; presented to NG, 1981. VAN DYCK, The Abbot Scaglia adoring the Virgin and Child, NG4889. Prov: Lady Battersea, London; probably Agnew’s (D), London; Anthony Gustav de Rothschild, Buckingham; presented to NG, 1937. VAN DYCK, Portrait of William Feilding, NG5633. Prov: William Rudolph Stephen Feilding, Warwickshire; Christie’s, London, 1 July 1938; Colnaghi’s (D), London; Arthur Roper, UK, 1938; Count Antoine Seilern, London; presented to NG, 1945. VELAZQUEZ, Portrait of Archbishop Fernando de Valdés, NG6350. Prov: Sir George I Campbell of Succoth, Scotland; Christie’s, London, 19 July 1946; Hugh Borthwick-Norton, 1950; Angus Bainbrigge, UK; purchased by NG, 1967. VIGEE LE BRUN, Mlle Brongniart, NG5871. Prov: Féral, 1930; A.J. Sulley (D), London; Christie’s, London, 1 June 1934; Fuller; Sir Bernard Eckstein, London; bequeathed to NG, 1948. VON AACHEN, Amazement of the Gods, NG 6475. Prov: Sotheby’s, untraced auction, c1930; Mrs E. Norris; Mr and Mrs B. von Reis; Sotheby’s, 21 April 1982; Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox (D), London; purchased by NG, 1982. VOUET, Ceres and harvesting cupids, NG6292. Prov: Heim (D), Paris; purchased by NG, 1958. VUILLARD, Lunch at Vasouy, NG6373 (originally part of same work as NG6388). Prov: Madame Claude Anet; R. Gerard, France, 1936; Alfred Daber (D), Paris; César de Hauke; purchased by NG, 1966 . VUILLARD, Lunch at Vasouy, NG6388 (originally part of same work as NG6373). Prov: Madame Claude Anet; R. Gerard, France, 1936; Alfred Daber (D), Paris; Major A.E. Allnatt, London; purchased by NG, 1970. WEENIX, Italian courtyard, NG6462. Prov: Mrs Gifford-Scott, Surrey; purchased by NG, 1980. WOUWERMANS, Cavalry making a sortie, NG6263. Prov: Benjamin John Plunket, Ireland, 1915; Leonard Abrahamson, Dublin, by 1940; W.R. Drown, London; purchased by NG, 1956. WTEWAEL, Judgement of Paris, NG6334. Prov: Leslie Hand; Ronald Lee (D), London; Claude Dickason Rotch, London; bequeathed to NG, 1962.
* NG numbers are inventory numbers. Early provenances for pictures are not given. There may well be gaps between owners. (D) signifies dealer. Some dealers may have been agents rather than owners.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as ‘Help us fill in the lacunae'