The
Art Looting Investigation Unit Final Report contains several mentions of the name "Grassi".
- Angerer, Josef (Sepp). Berchtesgaden. After Hofer, Goering’s most important buyer. Ardent Nazi, known to have had Gestapo connections. Member of firm of Quantmeyer & Eicke. Active throughout Europe, notably France and Italy. Contact of Reber, Ventura, Contini-Bonacossi, Ginori and Arturo Grassi. Was under temporary house arrest at Berchtesgaden, house of Fritz Goernnert, autumn 1945
- Grassi, Dr. Zurich. Official of the Schweizer Kantonal Bank. Special contact of Wendland.
- Grassi, Giulio and Luigi. Florence, Via Cavour 106. Established Florentine art dealers. Trafficked heavily with German officials and dealers, particularly Hofer, Angerer and Posse. Sold considerable quantity of furniture to Contini.
- Sestieri, Dr Ettoro. Rome, Lungetevere Oberdan. Dealer. Historian. Director of Barberini Gallery. Worked with Grassi and Morandotti who introduced him to Hofer.
- Wallerstein, Dr Victor. Florence, viale Manfredo Fanti 109. German Jewish refugee dealer, whose brother is an orchestra leader in New York. Middleman for Hofer in Florence. Contact of Contini-Bonacossi, Ventura and Grassi.
However the Red Flag Names Index only mentions a Dr, and the brothers, Giulio and Luigi Grassi. There is no mention of Ginori and Arturo Grassi.
Grassi, Dr. 131 CIR 2; DIR 9; Miedl Report III.
Grassi, Giulio 159 CIR 2; DIR 9
Grassi, Luigi 159 CIR 2; DIR 9
The brothers Guilio and Luigi are also mentioned in the Goering Report (ALIU CIR 2)
Who, one wonders, are
Ginori and Arturo Grassi?
Are they also brothers? What might be their relation to Giulio and Luigi?
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The site
Grassistudio provides clarification:
By 1900, Prof. Luigi Grassi was already heading his own well-established gallery in Florence, Italy, having earlier collaborated with his uncle Costantini, a dealer active there since the 1860s. As a young man, however, Luigi had been trained at the Rome Academy and actually began his career as a paintings restorer at the Uffizi....
“Luigi Grassi and Sons” became a requisite stop for any connoisseur traveling to Florence during the 1920s and 30s:...
After Luigi’s death in 1937, the gallery remained active until the early 1950s, managed by Prof. Grassi’s two sons, Giulio and Arturo....
Several museums, particularly Detroit, effected important acquisitions through Arturo Grassi.
Arturo’s two sons, Luigi and Marco, both returned to Europe after their education in America. Luigi has remained in Florence as a private paintings dealer. Marco trained as a fine arts conservator, first, like his grandfather, at the Uffizi, and subsequently in Rome and Zurich. After initiating a private practice in Florence in the early 1960s, Marco served as visiting and consulting conservator to a number of important private collectors, among them H.H. Thyssen-Bornemisza in Lugano, and Norton Simon, in Pasadena. Since 1974, he has been active mostly in New York.
According to the above, the relations are:
Prof Luigi Grassi (d.1937) ==> sons Giulio and Arturo ==> sons Luigi and Marco.
(There doesn't seem to be any mention of a Ginori).
How to reconcile the ALIU Reports and this family tree?
links to SOURCES:
http://www.lootedart.com/web_images/pdf/aliu_index_0712.pdf
http://www.lootedart.com/MVI3RM469661
http://www.grassistudio.com/Grassi-Studio-News-and-Events-DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=20&lg=en
Other References:
