LOUVRE DISPLAYS NAZI-LOOTED PAINTINGS IN BID TO FIND RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF 2,000 UNCLAIMED ARTWORKS

The Louvre's Sebastien Allard: 'Museums have often appeared to be predators in the past, but we are not trying to keep them' CREDIT: AP PHOTO/CHRISTOPHE ENA

David Chazan

The Louvre Museum has put on display 31 paintings looted by the Nazis during the Second World War in the hope that surviving relatives of their original owners will come forward to claim them.

The paintings, recovered in Germany after the war, were among about 100,000 works of art looted by the Nazis during their occupation of France.

More than 45,000 have been handed back but more than 2,000 remain unclaimed, including 296 paintings stored at the Louvre.

Sébastien Allard, head of the paintings department, said the Paris museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of art and artefacts, wanted to return them.

“The vast majority of the works of art retrieved were plundered from Jewish families. Their heirs may see these works, declare that they belong to them, and officially ask for their return. Museums have often appeared to be predators in the past, but we are not trying to keep them.”

Haul: some 296 paintings lie unclaimed at the Louvre alone CREDIT: AP PHOTO/CHRISTOPHE ENA

The French government has set up a working group to trace their original owners and contact their inheritors. 

The 31 paintings put on permanent display in two exhibition rooms opened last month include a number of remarkable works, including a landscape by Théodore Rousseau, “La Source du Lison” (The Source of the River Lison) and “Le Maréchal Ferrant” (The Farrier) by Eugène Delacroix.

There are also works by Dutch 16th century artists such as Jacob van Velsen and French 18th century painters including François Boucher.

Some looted works were already on display at the Louvre, but few visitors knew that they were stolen by the Nazis.

“We needed to draw more attention to this issue and raise public awareness,” Mr Allard said. "We thought it was important to highlight the specific case of these works.”

The initiative is the latest attempt to trace the heirs of families who lost works of art, a task that is becoming more difficult as time elapses. Since 1951, only about 50 have been returned.

"People who come forward must produce proof, for example, that the artwork belonged to their grandfather," Mr Allard said. "They need to find old family pictures and receipts, or gather testimonies. It can take years.”

The full list of looted art held by the Louvre is known as the Rose Valland list, named after a French curator who risked her life keeping notes on art stolen by the Nazis.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/30/louvres-appeal-find-rightful-owners-2000-artworks-looted-nazis/