Painting stolen by Nazis recovered, up for sale
April 20th, 2012 - 11:23 am ICT by IANSMiami, April 20 (IANS/EFE) A Jewish family who this week recovered a 16th century painting stolen by the Nazis during World War II announced Thursday that they are putting the piece up for sale.
After months of litigation, the heirs of Federico Gentili di Giuseppe Wednesday recovered the painting entitled “Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged By A Rascal”, which they had lost track of when part of the family fled Paris to escape the Nazis and the rest died in concentration camps.
To recover the painting, they had to meet US authorities, who confiscated the work taking advantage of the fact that the painting was among more than 50 pieces on loan from the Pinacoteca di Brera museum in Milan, Italy, to the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science in Tallahassee, Florida.
Scarcely 24 hours passed since recovering the work before the heirs scheduled an auction, which will be organized by Christie’s in New York June 6, the auction house said Thursday.
The work, valued by Christie’s at between $2.5 million and $3.5 million, was painted around 1538 by Italian Renaissance artist Girolamo Romano, known as “Romanino”.
The painting was bought by Gentili in 1914 at an auction in Paris. He died of natural causes in the French capital in 1940, a few months before the army of Nazi Germany invaded France.
Warned that Nazi occupation was imminent, his children and grandchildren escaped to Canada and the US, but the rest of his relatives could not flee and died in the concentration camps.
France’s Vichy government in 1941 auctioned a part of Gentili’s collection, including this painting.
When Gentili’s grandchildren, who for years had been taking legal measures to try and recover their grandfather’s works of art, became aware of the presence of the painting in the US, they alerted the authorities, who seized the work.
–IANS/EFE
rd
- Andy Warhol's self-portrait to fetch $40m at NY auction - Apr 22, 2011
- 37 artworks recovered 40 years after heist - Mar 09, 2012
- Picasso painting on the block for 40 mn pounds - Mar 18, 2010
- Painting by Indian artist sold for a record price at London auction - Jun 12, 2010
- US gallery pays $4.6 mn at auction for Velazquez piece - Dec 08, 2011
- Mexico returns archaeological piece to Egypt - Apr 29, 2011
- Pakistan claims up-for-auction Buddha statue - Sep 19, 2011
- 100-year-old painting sold for $2.18 mn - Jul 07, 2010
- Marilyn Monroe pornographic film auction fizzles - Aug 09, 2011
- Tyeb Mehta's 'Kali' sells for Rs.5.72 crore in online auction - Jun 20, 2011
- American painter Cy Twombly dies - Jul 06, 2011
- Victor Hugo collection auctioned off for $4.2 mn - Apr 05, 2012
- Wax sculpture of Penelope Cruz in Paris museum - Jul 27, 2012
- Mexico recovers stolen 18th century painting - Sep 11, 2011
- I've stopped being fussy, says world's wealthiest person - Mar 30, 2011
Tags: 50 pieces, auction house, carrying the cross, century painting, concentration camps, french capital, italian renaissance, legal measures, mary brogan museum, mary brogan museum of art, mary brogan museum of art and science, milan italy, nazi germany, nazi occupation, pinacoteca, pinacoteca di brera, renaissance artist, tallahassee florida, vichy government, world war ii