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Nazi-looted Portrait Found in Home of Dutch SS Collaborator's Descendants
A painting by Dutch artist Toon Kelder stolen from Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker during World War Two has been recovered from the home of descendants of a Dutch SS leader. Art detective Arthur Brand said the work hung in the family home for decades after being purchased at a 1940 auction of looted art.
May 11, 2:27 PM·3m read2 sources
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A painting stolen from a Jewish art collector by the Nazis during World War Two has been found in the home of descendants of a Dutch SS collaborator, an art detective said. Portrait of a Young Girl by Dutch artist Toon Kelder is believed to have hung for decades in the home of the family, Arthur Brand reported.
He added that the painting has since been handed over to his team. The painting belonged to Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer who died while fleeing the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. He left behind a collection of more than 1,000 paintings.
The case came to Brand's attention through a man who said he was a descendant of the collaborator and was disgusted to learn his family had kept the artwork for years. Shortly after learning of the connection, the man asked his grandmother about the painting's history.
She told him it had been purchased during World War Two and described it as Jewish looted art stolen from Goudstikker. She said it was unsellable and instructed him not to tell anyone, according to the account given to Brand. The family, which changed its name at the end of the war, has admitted possessing the painting but denied knowing its true origin in a statement to Dutch media.
After learning of the painting's history, the family member contacted Brand through an intermediary. The family member told Dutch outlet De Telegraaf that he felt ashamed and that the painting should be returned to Goudstikker's heirs. In a statement to the same newspaper, the grandmother said she received it from her mother.
She added that now that she had been confronted, she understood that Goudstikker's heirs would want the painting back and that she had not known its origin. Brand launched an investigation after being informed of the painting's existence. He found a label on the back and the number 92 etched into its frame.
