Austrian Family Wants Vermeer Sold to Hitler Returned
Published: September 9, 2009
The Art of Painting, a 1665 work that is the Flemish master’s largest known painting, has been in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum since 1946. Hitler bought it for 1.65 million Reichsmarks, according to Der Standard. The family of Count Jaromir Czernin asked for the painting to be returned in the 1960s, but their requests were rejected on the basis that it had been sold voluntarily and at an appropriate price. The family's attorney says a new appraisal has found that the work was sold for no more than one million Reichsmarks, or "a fraction of its value." The Austrian Culture Ministry says it’s received the attorney’s request for the painting’s return and will pass it on to a committee that issues opinions on restitutions. Read more at Agence France-Presse. |
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