Lost Art Search Requests for artworks currently in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

The heirs of persecuted Jewish collectors Armand Dorville, Max and Martha Leibermann, Adele Paechter and the Brombergs have all filed Search Requests for Lost Art on the German Lost Art Foundation website for artworks which currently are listed in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C..

Below are five artworks with the provenances as published on Lost Art and the provenance published on the NGA website from the same day.

One notes, in particular, the ABSENCE on the NGA website of any mention of DORVILLE, LIEBERMANN or PAECHTER in the NGA version. 

This raises questions about the quality of the provenance research.

1. Saint Mary Cleophas and Her Family

NGA 1961.9.88 Saint Mary Cleophas and Her Family  Lost Art 526719 

PROVENANCE published on Lost Art (April 18, 2026): "möglich Sammlung O. Streber, München; Haskard Bank, Florenz und Charles Fairfax Murray als Agent, 1900; Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, 1900; Sammlung Rodolphe Kann (gest. 1905), Paris, Mai 1900 -; Kunsthandel Duveen Brothers, Paris, August 1907; Sammlung Martin Bromberg (und Erben), Hamburg, August 1907 - 1935 (nach) [...]; Sammlung Dr. Max Emden, Schweiz (?); Kunsthandel F. Kleinberger (Allan Loebl), Paris vor 20.12.1938; Kunsthandel Wildenstein & Co., Paris 1939; Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York, Februar 1954 - 1956; National Gallery of Art, Washington, als Leihgabe, 1956 - 1961; National Gallery of Art, Washington, als Geschenk, 1961"

Lost Art Search request for persecuted Jewish collectors: Dr. Henry und Hertha Bromberg , published March 20, 2015

PROVENANCE published on NGA museum website (April 18, 2026)

Possibly O. Streber, Munich.[1] (Haskard Bank, Florence, and Charles Fairfax Murray, as agent, by 1900);[2] sold 1900 to (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); sold May 1900 to Rodolphe Kann [d. 1905], Paris;[3] by descent to executors of the Kann estate: Edouard Kann, Paris; Betty Schnaffer [née Kann], Frankfurt; Martin and Eleanore [née Kann] Bromberg, Hamburg; Jacob and Mathilde [née Kann] Emden, Hamburg, and Edmond and Madeline [née Kann] Bickard See, Paris.[4] (Duveen Brothers, Paris, August 1907);[5] purchased August 1907 by members of the Kann family, possibly Martin and Eleanore Bromberg, Hamburg.[6] Probably Dr. Max Emden, Switzerland, by 1939.[7] (Wildenstein & Co., New York, by 1939);[8] purchased February 1954 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[9] Denver Art Museum, Colorado, 1954-1958; at the NGA from February, 1958;[10] gift 1961 to NGA.

[1] Unverified, cited by Alfred Stange, Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer. 3 vols. (Munich, 1970), 2:204, no. 899.

[2] Letter of 24 January 1969, from Richard Kingzett, Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, to Colin Eisler, in NGA curatorial files.

[3] Kingzett letter of 24 January 1969 cited above.

[4] Duveen stockbook in archives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; see letter of 23 February 1987 from Guy Bauman, Department of European Paintings to John Hand in NGA curatorial files.

[5] Guy Bauman letter cited above and Edward Fowles, Memories of Duveen Brothers (London, 1976), 36-43.

[6] Bauman letter, cited in note 4, notes that in both the stockbook and the salesbook, the paintings are listed only as having been sold to "Kann relations."

[7] Wildenstein & Co. brochure in NGA Kress files lists Bromberg and Dr. Emden as previous owners.

[8] Letter of 14 September 1988 from Ay-Whang Hsia, Wildenstein & Co., to John Hand, in NGA curatorial files.

[9] The bill of sale (copy in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1873) is dated February 10, 1954, and was for a total of fourteen paintings; payments by the Foundation continued to March 1957.

[10] William E. Suida, Paintings and Sculpture of the Samuel H. Kress Collection. (Denver, 1954), 64, no. 28; letter of 10 November 1987 to John Hand from Louise H. Kliopov, Denver Art Museum, in NGA curatorial files. Eisler 1977, 26, reversed the exhibition dates for this and the Saint Mary Salome and Her Family also by Strigel.

https://www.nga.gov/artworks/46187-saint-mary-cleophas-and-her-family

DATASET Getty GPI merged with Wikidata art people and galleries IDs

 DATASET 

DATASET_GPIulanWIKIDATA_FULL.csv brings together actors in provenance entities from the Getty Provenance Index (GPI) with corresponding Wikidata identifiers for artists, collectors, dealers, galleries, and auction houses (not museums).

VIEW DATASET HERE

The file contains 61,419 records, each representing a person or organization appearing in the GPI.
Every record retains six key GPI fields and is enriched, where available, with open-data identifiers and descriptions from Wikidata. 

DOWNLOAD DATASET CSV 

Merge details

• Primary key: ULANurl (Getty ULAN link)

• Join type: Left join — all GPI rows are preserved, even if no Wikidata match exists

• Wikidata coverage: 11,146 matched entities out of 24,881 unique ULANs (≈45%)

• Columns included: All original GPI columns plus Wikidata fields such as

  • item (Wikidata QID)

  • itemLabel (name in Wikidata)

  • itemDescription

  • External identifiers: VIAF, GND, ISNI, RKD, Proveana, and others

Use
This dataset enables cross-referencing between the Getty Provenance Index and Wikidata, facilitating linked-data research on art-market actors, networks, and provenance patterns.

It is particularly useful for identifying entities appearing in both GPI and open knowledge graphs, enriching provenance chains with additional biographical and institutional context.

It is also useful for identifying GAPS in the data (for example, missing ULAN codes in either GPI or WIKIDATA) and for targeting useful actions to improve data coherence and completeness.

📘 Columns from the Getty Provenance Index (GPI)

1. URI Linkedart json – Persistent URI for the Linked Art JSON record

2. name – Preferred name of the person or organization

3. ULANurl – Getty ULAN identifier in URL form (merge key)

4. starId – Internal GPI identifier

5. birthYear – Year of birth (where applicable)

6. biography GPI – Textual biographical note from GPI

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🟦 Columns from Wikidata

7. item – Full Wikidata entity URI (e.g., http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5582)

8. itemLabel – English label (name of the entity)

9. itemDescription – Short descriptive phrase from Wikidata

10. ulan – ULAN numeric identifier used in Wikidata (e.g., 500044458)

11. VIAF – Virtual International Authority File ID (P214)

12. GND – German National Library identifier (P227)

13. Lexikon – Künstlerlexikon der Schweiz identifier (P9585)

14. Proveana – Proveana database ID (P9434)

15. RKD – RKDartists ID (P650)

16. ArtHist – arthist.net identifier (P10015 or equivalent, if present)

17. BritishM – British Museum person or org ID (P1711 or similar)

18. ISNI – International Standard Name Identifier (P213)

19. LoC – Library of Congress ID (P244)

20. BNF – Bibliothèque nationale de France ID (P268)

21. YadVashem – Yad Vashem Holocaust database ID (P6890)

22. SNAC – Social Networks and Archival Context ID (P3430)

23. Joconde – French museum catalogue ID (P347)

24. BiografischPortaal – Biografisch Portaal van Nederland ID (P651)

25. ULANurl_wikidata – Getty ULAN URL as represented within Wikidata

    
    

    Merge details

    • Primary key: ULANurl (Getty ULAN link)

    • Join type: Left join — all GPI rows are preserved, even if no Wikidata match exists

    • Wikidata coverage: 11,146 matched entities out of 24,881 unique ULANs (≈45%)

Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg in Lost Art (Fundmeldung)

German Lost Art Foundation Listings for the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg