Another recommendation by the Restitutions Committee in 2005 concerned the painting Venus and Adonis with Amor by J.A. Uytewael. The painting was part of the Dutch National Art Collection under inventory number NK 3424. Following two restitution applications from various relatives of the original owner, the State Secretary of Education, Culture and Science asked the Restitutions Committee for advice in letters dated 23 December 2004 and 25 March 2005.
Facts
The painting NK 3424 was one of a collection of objects in the Netherlands Art Property Collection that were presumably not transported to Germany during the war, but instead remained in the Netherlands. After the war, the painting was located in the buildings of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, which had been used by the occupying authorities during the war. In the late 1950s, an inventory was drawn up of the works of art that had been left behind. The painting NK 3424 was found in the attic of the official home of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, at Plein 1813, and was described as ‘Rottenhammer: Venus, Mars and Amor’. After subsequent corrections to the title and the artist’s name, the painting was registered in the Dutch National Art Collection as Venus and Adonis with Amor by J.A. Uytewael, with the previous attribution ‘in the style of H. Rottenhammer’.
During the 2002-2004 period, the Origins Unknown Agency conducted research into the provenance of the painting NK 3424. One of the matters investigated was whether the painting was listed in the inventory of works of art surrendered to the looting bank Lippmann, Rosenthal & Co (the Liro Bank). This research revealed that a painting had indeed been surrendered during the war that might have been NK 3424. The painting concerned was ‘Mythological representation’ by ‘J. Rottenhammer’, which the Liro Bank sold to a German firm in 1943. The Liro painting in question belonged to Jewish owner I. G., who was arrested at his hiding place with his family, and who died, together with his wife, two daughters and youngest grandson in the Sobibor extermination camp on 9 April 1943. The occupying forces seized G.’s collection of valuable objects, including the painting in question.
Discussion of the advice
In its meeting on 7 September 2005, the Restitutions Committee drew up its advice in this case. After having established that the original owner lost possession of the paintingMythological Representation by J. Rottenhammer involuntarily through confiscation, the Committee’s advice addressed the question of whether that painting was identical to painting NK 3424. Although no conclusive evidence about the provenance of NK 3424 during the war was available, the Committee deemed it to be highly probable that the painting was identical, in light of the artist’s name, the representation and the location where NK 3424 was found after the war. The Committee’s judgment also took into account the statements from one of the two applicants, who as a child had seen the painting hanging in his grandparents’ house and said about it:
‘Although I cannot describe the painting in your possession and cannot give you any details about it – I last visited my grandparents on 28 August 1942, and had therefore just turned 12 years old – I seem to remember that there was a “mythological” painting in the library behind the dining room, hanging on the wall next to the double doors that led from the dining room to the library. […]
Another reason is that every time I saw my grandmother she greeted me with the nickname “Adonis” (I was then their only grandson) referring to that mythological picture.’
Based on the matters set out above, the Restitutions Committee advised the State Secretary to return the painting Venus and Adonis with Amor by J.A. Uytewael to the joint heirs. The State Secretary adopted this advice on 7 November 2005.