Looted by Nazis, returned, now on sale

· Goudstikker collection likely to raise up to $35m
· Art dealer died at sea while fleeing Netherlands

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Friday February 23, 2007
The Guardian

A collection of old master paintings once owned by the Nazi leader
Hermann Göring is to go on auction, just a year after it was returned
to the heirs of its original owner. The sale of around 170 paintings
is the latest case of art looted by the Nazis being returned to its
original owners and promptly being put up for sale.

Last summer a portrait by Gustav Klimt that had been returned by the
Austrian government to the family of its former owner became the most
expensive painting ever when it was auctioned for $135m (£69m).

The collection of Jacques Goudstikker will go on sale in the spring at
Christie’s, the auction house that sold the Klimt painting. The works,
including a notable landscape by Salomon van Ruysdael, are expected to
raise $22m-$35m. "Jacques Goudstikker was an extraordinary dealer who
had wide-ranging and fascinating taste," said Nicholas Hall, a
director of Christie’s old master paintings department in New
York. "This is arguably the most important collection of old master
pictures ever restituted."

Marei von Saher, the widow of the late collector’s only son, said a
large part of the collection, which originally numbered 1,400
paintings, would be seen in a touring exhibition. "The Dutch
government’s return of these pictures was an historic event for us and
for all families whose possessions were stolen during the Holocaust
era," she said. "Although we must part with some beautiful paintings,
we are fortunate to be able to keep many of them for our private
collection and exhibit those works publicly in the United States and
abroad to tell the powerful story of Jacques Goudstikker and his
collection."

Goudstikker fled the Netherlands in 1940 as the Nazis advanced,
leaving his collection behind. He died at sea during his escape,
falling through a hatch on a ship and breaking his neck.

Within days of his departure, Göring appeared at the Goudstikker
gallery and, under threat of confiscation, bought the collection for
the token price of 2m Dutch gilders.

After the war a large part of the collection was recovered and handed
over to the Dutch government, which placed the pieces in its national
collections, over the objections of Goudstikker’s heirs. A lengthy
legal battle was resolved last year when the Dutch government declared
that 202 paintings should be handed back to the family.

The ruling prompted criticisms, with the director of one museum which
handed over 30 works calling it a "serious haemorrhage of Dutch
cultural heritage".

The decision to sell part of the collection also seems likely to raise
concerns in the country, where one commentator described restitution
as a lucrative business for "an industry of lawyers, advisers and art
dealers".

Lawrence Kaye, a lawyer for Ms Von Saher in New York, said: "This
property belonged to all these people. It was stolen by the
Nazis. It’s not their fault it was stolen from them. Why shouldn’t she
be permitted to sell her art?" He pointed to the costs incurred by the
family in tracing the paintings and in taking its case through the
Dutch courts for 10 years.

The sale of the Goudstikker collection will take place over three
auctions, starting in New York in April.