In our next three videos we’ll focus on Han van Meegeren, the talented but unstable forger who duped Hitler’s henchman Hermann Göring. Part 1 examines his early life.
In our next three videos we’ll focus on Han van Meegeren, the talented but unstable forger who duped Hitler’s henchman Hermann Göring. Part 1 examines his early life.
In Part 2 of the Han van Meegeren saga, you’ll learn about the elaborate process he used to fool some of the best art connoisseurs of his day.
In our last segment on this notorious forger, you’ll learn (among other things) how his son endeavored to carry on the family legacy.
The value of art cannot be measured in currency alone. For many, art is a conduit for family memories, an emblem of a treasured cultural heritage. Our next three videos will examine how the Nazis’ pillaging of Europe during World War II impacted three Jewish families. The first episode highlights the Cassirer’s attachment to Pissarro’s Rue St. Honore: Afternoon Rain-Effect.
Our second story on Nazi-looted art recounts the tragic events in the life of collector Leo Bendel and his wife Else. Leo’s favorite painting was done by the popular German Romanticist Carl Spitzweg. Ironically, it is titled Justice.
Our third story on Nazi-looted art relates how the wealthy Viennese industrialist, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, was forced to forfeit a cherished portrait of his beloved wife Adele.
With Europe in shambles following World War II, much of the art that made its way to the New York art market had little documented provenance. In the next three videos, we’ll explore a landmark case in which an American museum returns a work of Holocaust looted art to the victims’ heirs without need of legal action.
Video 1: The Discovery
View the next video in the series here.
In this second installment we learn the “journey” of Lucas Cranach’s masterpiece during the war and its aftermath.
Video 2: Authentication
View the next video in the series here.
In this final installment from M&G’s 2015 Sleuthing exhibition, learn the ultimate verdict and importance of the case.
Video 3: Verdict