Richard Zinser in Getty Provenance Index graph data visualisation of Knoedler transactions: Millet, Cranach, Cézanne, Renoir, Bonnard, Romney
Showing posts with label provenance research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label provenance research. Show all posts
Jul 31, 2025
Richard Zinser and Knoedler
Jun 28, 2025
Heinemann and Mondschein (Frederick Mont) in provenances of artworks in American museums
The El Greco looted in 1944 by the Nazi Gestapo from Julius Priester passed through Rudolf J. Heinemann, (1901 – February 7, 1975) and the business he owned, Pinakos, and Frederick Mont (aka Fritz Mondschein) and the gallery he owned, Galerie Sanct Lukas, before being identified. The provenance of the looted artwork was falsified, and it took more than seventy years to find it, claim it and obtain restitution (in 2015). The obvious question for museums to ask themselves is: which artworks in our collections passed through these individuals or their businesses and are there any provenance gaps or discrepancies that require further verification.
The number of questions marks "?" (49) and "probably" (41) and "possibly" (30) and "might have" or "may have" (12) suggests the presence of guesswork and speculation.
Below are a few of the artworks known to have passed through Heinemann or Mont.
Jun 19, 2025
Questionable provenance research practices at Bavarian State Painting Collections
According to a June 17, 2025 article in Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Ministry of Culture have been engaging in questionable provenance research practices concerning Nazi-looted art. Members of Parliament are asking questions and demanding answers (see Süddeutsche Zeitung: Bayerns Umgang mit NS-Raubkunst: Taskforce „Nichtstun“ by Jörg Häntzschel)
Questionable provenance research practices by the Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Ministry of Culture include:
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Withholding findings and failing to inform heirs The museums kept most of their provenance research findings to themselves and did not inform the descendants of the Jewish collectors who had been robbed
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Failure to publish works in the Lostart database Many works suspected of being looted art were not published in the Lostart database, despite the obligation to do so since 1998. While 598 works are now online, 222 of these were only added in the last four months, compared to 376 in the preceding 24 years.
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Delay and obfuscation The Ministry and museums are accused of sticking to a course of delay and obfuscation regarding restitution.
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Claiming that "claims where the claimants were known" were not entered into Lostart The State Painting Collections' spokesperson stated that works with known claimants were not entered into Lostart previously, as the database was intended for heir searches. This practice has since been changed for "maximum transparency," but it meant that works like Ernst Barlach's busts, whose heirs were known via Alfred Flechtheim's lawyer, were not listed.
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Providing incorrect provenance histories online The provenance histories available online are not always accurate. For instance, it's suggested that Picasso's "Fernande" might have been purchased by the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, a crucial detail for the looted art question, yet documents indicate the museum never paid for it. This is considered a "trick to conceal Alfred Flechtheim's ownership".
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Missing provenance information for some works For other works, such as Beckmann's "Portrait of Quappi in Blue," provenance histories are entirely missing from the Pinakotheken's online collection.
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Using unusual classification standards The State Painting Collections reportedly used classification standards that are otherwise unusual.
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Minimizing the forced nature of exchanges The State Painting Collections interpreted disparaging remarks by former Director General Ernst Buchner about "artistically indifferent" and "entirely dispensable" deposit pictures used in an exchange with the persecuted Jewish Lion brothers as mere "strategic formulations" related to his collection strategy, rather than evidence of the unfair value of the exchange or persecution-related confiscation.
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Denying comprehensive access to files The Ministry explicitly denied comprehensive access to all files to the lawyer representing the Flechtheim heirs, stating it was "not necessary".
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Lack of proactive communication with heirs The State Painting Collections never informed the Flechtheim heirs' lawyer about two Barlach busts, even though they knew he represented the heirs, and he only learned about them from Lostart.
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Lack of transparency with owners regarding looted art suspicion Owners of works, such as the Friends of the Pinakothek der Moderne, were not informed for years that their paintings (e.g., Fernand Léger's "Le Typographe") were classified as suspected looted art, despite internal checks and classifications (yellow, then orange).
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Minister deciding alone on restitutions Unlike most other federal states in Germany, the minister in Bavaria decides alone on restitutions, which raises questions about transparency and process.
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(summary constructed in English with NotebookLLM)
from source:
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Bayerns Umgang mit NS-Raubkunst: Taskforce „Nichtstun“ 17. Juni 2025
Bayerns Kunstminister Blume versprach nach dem Skandal um Raubkunst an den Staatsgemäldesammlungen eine „neue Ära der Wiedergutmachung“. Doch sein Ministerium und die Museen scheinen am Kurs des Verzögerns und Verschleierns festzuhalten.
Von Jörg Häntzschel
see English translation at
See also:
Facing accusations of hiding Nazi loot, Bavaria pledges more research and greater transparency, The Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/02/26/facing-accusations-hiding-nazi-loot-bavaria-pledges-more-research-greater-transparency
NS-Raubkunst-Skandal in Bayern: Verheimlicht und verschleppt https://taz.de/NS-Raubkunst-Skandal-in-Bayern/!6070973/
Jüdische Erben: »Bayern hat uns betrogen« - Claims Conference spricht von »Vertrauensbruch« https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/kultur/juedische-erben-bayern-hat-uns-betrogen-claims-conference-spricht-von-vertrauensbruch/
Heftige Kritik am Umgang Bayerns mit NS-Raubkunst https://www.zeit.de/news/2025-02/20/vertuschungsvorwuerfe-gegen-bayerns-staatsgemaeldesammlungen
May 24, 2025
DATASET: Names in new Getty Provenance Index
In searching the new Getty Provenance Index, it can be useful to know the "preferred name" as recorded in ULAN, especially when performing a facetted search in the Knoedler files.
Below is a Dataset of names that may be helpful. The data was retrieved on May 24, 2025.
The uploaded CSV file contains 61,418 rows and 7 columns. It contains entities (mostly people or organizations) associated with the Getty Provenance Index, particularly those classified as E21_Person or E74_Group in the CIDOC CRM ontology.
| Column Name | Description | Non-null Count |
|---|---|---|
URI Linkedart json | The Linked.Art JSON URI for the entity | 61,418 |
name | Preferred name of the person or organization | 61,418 |
ulan | Getty ULAN (Union List of Artist Names) identifier | 26,648 |
starId | Internal Getty Provenance Index identifier (STAR system) | 28,500 |
birthYear | Birth year (if known, usually for people) | 15,221 |
biography | Biographical note or description | 10,521 |
Download Dataset (CSV)
(8.3 MB)
May 14, 2025
Tips for advanced search and download on the new Getty Provenance Index: VIDEO
The new Getty Provenance Index can be confusing to use. Here are some tips for advanced search and download on the new GPI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbf0QjHWQ_8
Demo:- simple search on Pinakos,
- selection of provenance activity facet
- narrowing to a specific art market actor, (Swiss art dealer Fritz Nathan)
- download into CSV file of the five artworks that Fritz Nathan sold to Pinakos and Knoedler (who acquired jointly)
Tip: Downloading works if you don't select the optional "Export as system values".
(In the videos I keep the mistakes so that viewer can recognize them and not panic if they make the same.)
May 12, 2025
Frederick Mont in RKD records
Frederick Mont, AKA Fritz Mondschein or Galerie Sanct Lucas, is a name that has popped up in Nazi looted art and in forgeries, and, for this reason, a name of interest for provenance researchers and art crime specialists.
Below are artworks in the RKD data that mention "Mont, Frederick" retrieved by a Sparql query at:
https://rkd.triply.cc/rkd/RKD-Knowledge-Graph/sparql
To see the full provenance click on the RKD link.
(Art Historians: Note the number of Art Looting Investigation Unit Red Flag Names that appear in the full provenances)
See also:Art Dealers in Provenance: Frederick Mont at the Toledo Museum of Art and LACMA
and Fritz Mont, Frederick Mondschein and Galerie Sanct Lucas
Frederick Mont in RDK database provenances
May 9, 2025
RKD and Collections Trust Spoliation Reports: Antoine Seilern
Antoine Seilern and the Princess Gates Bequest appear in many provenances. This post gathers together information from the RKD and the UK Collections Trusts.
May 1, 2025
RKD Speelman
The RKD is an important source of art provenance information. The RKD cuts across data silos to bring together provenance and other information from numerous museums. Below is a search (via Sparql query) for "Speelman", an important art dealing dynasty. Click on the urls to see the complete RKD information as well as, in certain cases, links to the current collection.
(If a link doesn't work, use the RKD ID to find the artwork. Or replace "https://data.rkd.nl/images/" with "https://research.rkd.nl/en/detail/https%3A%2F%2Fdata.rkd.nl%2Fimages%2F" or with the permalink url "https://rkd.nl/images/" )
For more on Speelman, see also posts on The Legacy of Edward Speelman and Edward Speelman and the Toledo Museum of Art and Edward Speelman in America.
Apr 23, 2025
Galerie Moos: tracing history through public auctions
The Moos art dealing dynasty has placed an important role. This post focuses on artworks that passed through Moos and Christie's.
Apr 16, 2025
Pinakos, Heinemann and Agnew
The following is adapted from a "conversation" with Google's AI tool, NotebookLM based on sources uploaded.
Mar 28, 2025
VIDEO Detecting Deception: A Computational Approach to Detecting Nazi-looted Art
Description*:
Researching a Rigged Game: Open Source Data & the Trade of Cultural Objects, September 14 and 15, 2023. This YouTube video transcript presents a computational method for detecting potentially Nazi-looted art by analyzing the language used in artwork provenance records. The speaker, Laurel Zuckerman, explains how counting words indicating uncertainty, unreliability, and anonymity can reveal patterns suggestive of deception, drawing inspiration from her own experience with a family artwork. A software tool is demonstrated that allows users to upload provenance data and custom lists of keywords to quantify these indicators. While acknowledging limitations and the need for further research, the approach offers a scalable and objective way to prioritize artworks for closer scrutiny regarding their wartime history.
Mar 5, 2025
Alsdorf at the Art Institute of Chicago: Provenance Research Dataset
The Art Institute of Chicago announced yesterday that it plans to restitute to Nepal one of the objects looted from it. The looted object, Buddha Sheltered by the Serpent King Muchalinda, (Reference Number 2014.1030) was gifted to the AIC by its trustee Marilynn Alsdorf in 2014.
One may recall the Nazi looted art case filed by the heirs of Carlota Landsberg for the Picasso Woman in White that Marilynn Alsdorf acquired from art dealer Stephen Hahn in 1975 with the provenance "Private Collection, Paris."
Or one may recall the investigations by Crain’s Chicago Business and ProPublica into "at least nine objects once owned by James and Marilynn Alsdorf that have been sent back to their countries of origin since the late 1980s".
Or one may simply be intrigued by hundreds of objects in a major US museum that still lack clear provenance despite a history of acquiring looted objects by their donors. Or, perhaps, the curious way the story is told by the museum when forced to return an obviously looted object.
RESEARCH DATASET
The following dataset includes objects linked to James or Marilynn Alsdorf with the basic object information, credit line and provenances published by the Art Institute of Chicago on its website in June 2024.
VIEW DATASET
Download CSV file:
Description
This file contains provenance information related to artworks associated with the Alsdorf collection. Here are the key details:
- Rows: 317 entries
- Columns: 14
- Main Fields:
RetrievalDate: All entries have the same date, "19June2024".Url: Direct links to the artworks on the Art Institute of Chicago’s website.Artist: Names of artists where available (only 44 entries have this).Title: Titles of the artworks.Medium: The materials used in the artworks.Credit Line: How the artwork was acquired or credited (e.g., "Gift of Marilynn B. Alsdorf").Acc Num: Accession numbers of the artworks.Provenance: Historical ownership information, partially available (161 entries have data).Exhibitions: Exhibition history (120 entries have data).References: Completely empty column.Date Created: The estimated or known date of creation.Dimensions: Physical dimensions of the artworks.Publication History: Records of where the artwork has been published (136 entries have data).Status: Mostly empty, but one entry states: "Loot-Deaccessioned for repatriation to Nepal Museum".
Feb 24, 2025
Restitutions by the Bavarian State Painting Collections since 1998 (summarized in English)
Restitutions
Overview of the Restitutions by the Bavarian State Painting Collections
Since 1998, the Bavarian State Painting Collections have restituted 24 works from 15 collections. On this page, you can find more information about past restitutions.
March 13, 2024: Restitution of a Painting and Two Sculptures to the Heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt
The Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Bavarian National Museum have restituted a painting by Hans Wertinger (Count Palatine Philipp, Bishop of Freising, Inv. No. 12030) and two 16th-century Nuremberg sculptures(wood statuettes "Adam and Eve", Inv. No. 53/137 and 53/138) to the heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt (1882–1955), a Berlin banker and entrepreneur.
The painting was transferred to the Bavarian State Painting Collections in 1953 as part of former Nazi art holdings, and the sculptures were acquired by the Bavarian National Museum that same year through an exchange.
Jakob Goldschmidt, the Collector
Jakob Goldschmidt was one of the most influential bankers of the Weimar Republic and was considered a central figure in the financial world. He held a leading position on the board of the Danat Bank (Darmstädter and Nationalbank) and served on more than 100 supervisory boards.
Goldschmidt began collecting art during World War I and built a significant collection. He was also a patron of Berlin museums and the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. His villa in Potsdam's Neubabelsberg district, built in 1921, was adorned with numerous artworks, as was the villa he acquired in Berlin’s Matthäikirchstraße in 1929.
Following the Great Depression of 1931, when Danat Bank collapsed, the Nazis blamed him for the banking crisis. In April 1933, he fled to Switzerland and later to New York in 1936.
The Nazis imposed severe financial restrictions on him, including a Reich Flight Tax of over 1.8 million Reichsmarks, revoked his German citizenship in 1940, and confiscated his remaining assets in Germany in 1941.
Goldschmidt managed to smuggle part of his art collection abroad with the help of industrialist Fritz Thyssen. However, much of his collection remained in Germany, with major portions being auctioned off in 1936 and 1938.
Provenance of the Works
- The Hans Wertinger painting was purchased in June 1936 by Julius Streicher, the Gauleiter of Franconia, at the Hugo Helbing auction house in Frankfurt.
- Around 300 works from Goldschmidt’s collection were anonymously listed as coming from a "Berlin collector."
- The two sculptures were also auctioned in 1936 but remained unsold. They were later offered again in March 1938 at Lempertz Auction House in Cologne.
- The sculptures’ provenance traces them to Johannes Hinrichsen, an art dealer from Bad Aussee, who likely acquired them at Lempertz and later sold them to Swiss arms manufacturer Emil Bührle.
- In 1953, the Bavarian National Museum acquired them from Bührle through a trade involving a 14th-century Pietà.
It is undeniable that Goldschmidt’s financial downfall was a direct result of Nazi persecution. The forced sales of his art collection would not have taken place without the Nazi regime, classifying them as persecution-related asset seizures.
As a result, the Bavarian Ministry of Science and Arts approved the restitution.
Statements on the Restitution
Markus Blume, Minister for Science and Arts:
"Provenance research results are clear: Jakob Goldschmidt was wrongfully persecuted by the Nazi regime and dispossessed of his wealth. Returning these works is not just a given—it is an ethical obligation. Restituting stolen cultural property restores justice and contributes to addressing Nazi crimes. I sincerely thank the Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Bavarian National Museum for their meticulous research that led to this restitution."
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Maaz, Director of the Bavarian State Painting Collections:
"Hans Wertinger was a masterful Renaissance portraitist. We are honored to return this exceptional artwork to Goldschmidt’s descendants, ensuring that this remarkable collection’s history is remembered."
Dr. Frank Matthias Kammel, Director of the Bavarian National Museum:
"Restituting the two statuettes from the workshop of Veit Stoß is an important moment for the museum."
Statement from the Goldschmidt heirs:
"The heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt are pleased with the restitution, which acknowledges that the loss of these artworks was the result of Nazi persecution and anti-Semitic propaganda."
Previous Restitutions
May 9, 2022: Restitution of "Ulanen auf dem Marsch" by Hans von Marées to the Max Stern Estate
- Following a 2015 restitution request from the Max Stern Estate, the case was brought before the Advisory Commission for Nazi-Looted Art Restitution.
- The commission recommended returning the painting under two conditions:
- The Max Stern Estate cannot sell the painting for 10 years, allowing time for a possible primary victim to be identified.
- If new evidence suggests that the sale was not Nazi-related, the foundation must return the painting to the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
- The painting was restituted on May 9, 2022 under these conditions.
August 27, 2021: Restitution of "Frühlingslandschaft" by Johann Sperl to the Heirs of Sigmund Waldes
- Research confirmed that Sigmund Waldes lost the painting due to Nazi persecution in 1939/41.
May 31, 2021: Restitution of "Fischerboote bei Frauenchiemsee" by Joseph Wopfner to the Heirs of Alfred Isay
- Originally planned for March 2020, the restitution was delayed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
April 23, 2021: Restitution of a Late Medieval Panel Depicting St. Florian
- The art dealership A.S. Drey had owned the panel before the Nazis confiscated it.
August 5, 2019: Restitution of Nine Artworks to the Heirs of Julius and Semaya Franziska Davidsohn
- The couple’s collection was confiscated in Munich in 1938.
July 25, 2018: Restitution of a Painting by Ernst Immanuel Müller
- The work originally belonged to Ludwig Friedmann, a Nazi victim.
July 21, 2017: Restitution of "The Raising of Lazarus"
- Formerly part of the James von Bleichröder collection.
May 15, 2013: Restitution of Two Max Pechstein Watercolors
- Belonged to Curt Glaser and George Behrens.
- Streit um NS-Raubkunst: «Der Fisch stinkt vom Kopf»
- and a Marian painting by Cristoforo de' Moretti.
June 23, 2008: Restitution of a Willem Kalf Still Life
- Returned to Peter Block, grandson of collector Josef Block.
September 14, 2005: Restitution of "Musical Entertainment" by Fritz Schider
- Originally owned by Max Meirowsky.
October 5, 2004: Restitution of "Twilight at Lake Garda" by Hans Thoma
- Formerly in the Ottmar Strauss collection.
March 13, 2000: Restitution of "The Three Ages of Man" by Leopold Graf Kalckreuth
- Returned to the heirs of Elisabeth Glanville.
****
Press
For more information about the current state of Nazi-era provenance research in the Bavarian State Paintings Collections see:
Nazi-looted art: Red alert
Dispute over Nazi-looted art: “The fish stinks from the head”
Jewish heirs: “Bavaria betrayed us” - Claims Conference speaks of “breach of trust”
Nazi-looted art scandal in Bavaria
Concealed and abducted
The Bavarian State Painting Collection in Munich is sitting on Nazi-looted art. To the detriment of heirs, it does not pass on its knowledge about the artworks.
Fierce criticism of Bavaria's handling of Nazi-looted art
***
"
The Glanville Case
In 1999 the Glanville family approached the Commission for assistance in locating a triptych looted from their home in Vienna when the family fled the Nazis in 1938.
Marietta Glanville described the looted painting as "an icon of my childhood." Her mother, Elizabeth Glanville, had searched for the looted von Kalckreuth painting since 1948. In 1971 she learned that the painting was in the Bavarian State Paintings Collection, Munich which had acquired it from a private collector in 1942. But, in the same year, her claim was denied by the Bavarian Compensation Office on the grounds that the deadlines for restitution had expired in 1948. In 1983 Elizabeth Glanville died without having been able to recover her painting."
Jan 15, 2025
Museum Collections and Names of Concern in Provenance
The following names are linked to Holocaust art and restitution cases stemming from the persecution of Jews in the Nazi era. Their presence in a provenance is a Flag that requires serious verification. (For art galleries, see "More Names of Concern".
Dec 24, 2024
AIC names extracted from Provenances (artworks by so called "degenerate" artists)
Names extracted from the provenance texts of artworks in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago who were created by artists whom the Nazis labelled "degenerate"
See also: https://www.openartdata.org/2024/12/Art-Institute-Chicago-degenerate-artists-provenanc%20e.html
or
See DATASET with provenances HERE
Nov 10, 2024
Experiments in Automated Entity Extraction with Pinpoint: Toledo Museum of Art Provenance PDF
Pinpoint is a tool for investigative journalists. It performs automatic entity extraction from PDF files. Can it be useful for processing provenance texts?
In this post, we examine the results for the Provenance Research PDF file published by the Toledo Museum of Art and archived at:
Since the Toledo Museum of Art doesn't appear to publish provenance on its Website in 2024, this older PDF file offers insights to the ownership history of artworks.
Nov 7, 2024
The Grosz was acquired from...
The German Expressionist artist George Grosz (1893–1959) was persecuted by the Nazis for his art, while Grosz's art dealer, Alfred Flechtheim (1878-1937), was persecuted by the Nazis for being Jewish*. Both fled Nazi Germany in 1933, Grosz to America and Flechtheim to England. Both were plundered.
Some pretty elaborate speculation has been advanced concerning the itineraries of artworks via Grosz and Flechtheim. This post explores what the museums who have Grosz in their collections have to say about where they got it from.
Art Institutions Table
| National Gallery of Art |
| Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Rosenwald Collection |
| Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
| "Degenerate Art" Collection |
| Dallas Museum of Art |
| Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum |
| Museum of Modern Art |
| Bavarian State Painting Collections |
| King Baudouin Foundation |
Where is this art today?
We're going to focus on the art created in early years, until 1932.
The itineraries of many of these artworks are contested. We will focus on the one piece of information that museums must know: who they acquired the Grosz artworks from and when.
Oct 28, 2024
Arthur Pfannstiel, Red Flag Name
"Definitely not a reliable or trustworthy source for cataloguing"
What does it mean to find Arthur Pfannstiel in a provenance or as the author of a reference?
Sep 11, 2024
Probst and expanded network: explorations in provenance
Starting from Probst and expanding out to see the other names that appeared together with Probst in provenances
Jul 10, 2024
DATASET: Art Provenances AFTER Restitution of Looted Art
Claims for Nazi-looted art or duress sales sometimes result in restitution or settlement agreements which cause the restituted artwork to be sold at auction.
Below are artworks whose provenance, as published by Christie's auction house, mentions a restitution or settlement agreement with the heir of a victim of Nazi persecution.
These provenance texts provide valuable information to art historians and Holocaust researchers, offering insights into the art market networks that dealt in Holocaust-linked artworks between the time they left the possession of the persecuted Jewish collectors and the time they were restituted.
(original source of information: Christie's auction website)
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Dataset: CSV Download
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