Two paintings and a sculpture from the 15th century, looted by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945 from German Jews, were returned Tuesday in Paris to their heirs, noted an AFP photographer. French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak presented Agathe and Ernst Saulmann’s heirs with a 15th-century Florentine school woodblock painting titled Battle Scene: Siege of Carthage by Scipio Emilien which was in the museum des Beaux-Arts in Angers, as well as a Virgin and Child, from the Padouan school of the 15th century, which was in the Musée de Picardie in Amiens.
A sculpture of a Virgin of Mercy, made in the entourage of Gil de Siloé (15th century), and which was in the Louvre, was given to the heirs of Harry Fuld junior. The minister also announced that she would present the bill to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday to “facilitate other restitutions of works” looted by Nazi Germany, her ministry told AFP.
The three works returned on Tuesday were part of the so-called “National Museums Recovery” (MNR), i.e. 2,200 works selected in the early 1950s from among those found in Germany at the end of the Second World War, brought back to France and not returned. The spouses Agathe and Ernst Saulmann, a woman photographer and textile industrialist, owned an important collection of works of art. Forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1935 due to anti-Semitic persecution, they emigrated to Italy and then to France.
The two paintings, passed through France during the Occupation and found in Germany in the collection of Hermann Goering, were repatriated to France at the Liberation, without their owner being identified. They were selected as MNR works in 1949. Regarding Harry Fuld junior, he too was forced into exile in Great Britain in 1937, due to anti-Semitic persecution. His collection, which remained in Germany, was confiscated and sold in 1943.
The sculpture, found at a German art dealer in 1945, was then sent by mistake to France, without it being known who was the owner. It was selected as an MNR work in 1951. A total of 184 MNR and similar works and objects have been returned since 1950. In addition, 15 works from national or territorial public collections have been removed from the public domain and returned to rights holders. of owners who are victims of anti-Semitic persecution was made possible by a law of February 21, 2022.
