Ownership Claim Against a Vermeer

Catherine Hickley writing for Bloomberg states the ownership of the famous Vermeer once in the collection of Adolf Hitler is now in question. The Art of Painting is owned by the Austrian government and hangs in  Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.

The ownership was previously contested in the 1960's, but the ownership by the Austrian government was found legitimate. Art experts believe the painting could be worth well more than $200 million with only 34 paintings considered to be true Vermeers. The painting is thought to have been created between 1665 nd 1668 and is considered by many to be one of his best works.

Hickley reports in Bloomberg

Sale to Hitler

Jaromir Czernin inherited “The Art of Painting” in 1929. He decided to sell it, and in 1937 negotiated with U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon for a price of $1 million in gold. Austria agreed to grant the export permit, Theiss said.

Then, with the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, the sale abroad was no longer permissible. Czernin, whose family was Austrian aristocracy, began negotiating with the German industrialist Philipp Reemtsma. Theiss said Reemtsma may have been acting on behalf of Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, who was desperate for a Vermeer for his own private collection -- so desperate, that he once traded 150 paintings for a forgery by Han van Meegeren.

As soon as Hitler found out about the talks, he made use of the “Fuehrervorbehalt,” his prerogative to acquire before others, because he wanted the picture for his Fuehrermuseum in Linz, the city where he spent his childhood. He acquired it for 1.65 million Reichsmarks (about $660,000 at the time). Reemtsma had offered 2 million Reichsmarks, Theiss said.

“It was important that Hitler got it for less,” Theiss said. “He wanted to show Goering: I am the more successful because I got it cheaper.”

Gestapo Arrest

The Vienna-based heirs, represented by Jaromir Czernin’s daughter Sophie Huvos Czernin, say the use of that prerogative amounted to a sale under duress. They argue that Czernin had no option but to sell the painting to Hitler because he was married to a “second-degree Jewish half-breed.” Czernin was later deprived of his estates and was held by the Gestapo for three months, according to a memorandum from Wolf Theiss.

The price paid by Hitler was nevertheless by far the highest he paid for any artwork for his planned museum in Linz, according to Birgit Schwarz, a historian who has published two books about Hitler and his art collection.

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