Looted Art Detector: Part 2 Using custom indicators
example with : ALIU Red Flag restorers
The user can analyse provenances for any names or words that seem interesting.
The list below contains the last names of art restorers who were investigated by the OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit for their role in the art market for Nazi-looted art.
| word | type of flag |
| Brabender | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Hagenow | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Hofer | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Polhammer | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Sieder | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Uhlworm | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Unger | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Beraudiere | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Beraudière | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Bregere | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Bregère | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Helfer | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Leegenhoek | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Raphael | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Raphaël | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Backermund | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Bohemen | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Jan Dik | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| de Wild | RestorerALIURedFlag |
| Veken | RestorerALIURedFlag |
To verifiy provenance texts, credit lines, references or descriptions of artworks for the above names, copy or download the CSV file.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQlAlUNelCn3L8PfcL6thPtR9u--sx8eZNimbkqpG-zYypEAGM0rIVxdVjHH6Tqg5hnsTTT_Kyb0_ee/pub?gid=357744891&single=true&output=csv
Then upload it in the optional "Replace default indicator file with custom CSV file.
The Detector will, for each text, count the number of times one of these names appears and sum them up under "RestorerALIURedFlag".
WARNING: The appearance of a name does NOT mean that it is the same person. It is an indicator, a flag. The use must be attentive to nuance and context and VERIFY whether the selection corresponds to the target person or maybe the family or maybe to a different person entirely.
FAQ:
Q: What if I want to have each name counted SEPARATELY? (not lumped together)
A: Add a line for each name, like this:
| word | type of flag |
| Brabender | Brabender |
| Hagenow | Hagenow |
| Hofer | Hofer |
| Polhammer | Polhammer |
| Sieder | Sieder |
| Uhlworm | Uhlworm |
| Unger | Unger |
| Beraudiere | Beraudiere |
| Beraudière | Beraudiere |
| Bregere | Bregere |
| Bregère | Bregere |
| Helfer | Helfer |
| Leegenhoek | Leegenhoek |
| Raphael | Raphael |
| Raphaël | Raphael |
| Backermund | Backermund |
| Bohemen | Bohemen |
| Jan Dik | Jan Dik |
| de Wild | de Wild |
| Veken | Veken |
(note that variations of spelling are grouped together)
Results for 20,000 artworks
Above is the screen of the Looted Art Detector with the provenance file and the indicator files loaded. We told it to analyse the column named "provenance".
You can use Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, R or whatever tool you like.
This is a big file, so I'm going to use Workbenchdata to analyse it quickly. And to show the filters I use.
(Workbenchdata is a free tool used by investigative journalists. It is good at keeping a record of all the changes made to a file.)
Of the 86,000 provenance texts analysed by the Looted Art Detector, 314 contain a word from the list.
The filter used was simply "RestorerALIURedFlag > 0."
Which names are appearing? Are they really the names of the people on the ALIU Red Flag list )- or other people or words entirely?
Let's check.
Hofer appears the most frequently, but on verification it looks like there are many hits for Philip Hofer and Frances Hofer. Are they any relation to the Frau Hofer, the restorer in the ALIU Red Flag Name list? It appears not. So we will filter out the hits for Philip or Frances, or Philip's brother, Myron. (perhaps to return to later?)
The Hofer selection is thus narrowed down to three artworks*.
Examining the first one produces:
Landscape with Burning City
Herri Met De Bles (Netherlandish, 1480–1550)
about 1500
According to the provenance published by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
the painting appears to have been looted and given a false provenance.
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32987/landscape-with-burning-city
In 1946 the MFA purchased the painting from Aram Gallery, in New York. Siegfried F. Aram (letter to the MFA, September 20, 1948) attested that he had purchased it from Julian Acampora, a New York restorer, and that it had come from the collection of the Count d'Urbania. After inquiring further about its history, Aram was told that it been with Devany's auction galleries, New York, and that it had come from a collection in Chicago. This account is inconsistent and was almost certainly fabricated.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
By 1948 the MFA was aware that the painting had come from Carinhall and was being sought by the Dutch government. The museum entered discussions with the authorities in the Netherlands at this time.
***
The second one, at the J. Paul Getty, was also seized and restituted to France, where it sat at the Louvre for half a century before being restituted (finally) to the heirs of Federico Gentili di Giuseppe in 1999.
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/128454/giovanni-battista-tiepolo-alexander-the-great-and-campaspe-in-the-studio-of-apelles-italian-about-1740/
Sedelmeyer Gallery (Paris, France)
Galeries Trotti (Paris, France)
Federico Gentili di Giuseppe, 1868 - 1940 (Paris, France) [sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 23-24, 1941, lot 72, to Hans Wendland.]
Hans Wendland (Berlin, Germany), sold through Walter Andreas Hofer (Berlin) to Hermann Göring, about 1941.
Hermann Göring, 1893 - 1946 (Carinhall, Schorfheide, Brandenburg, Germany), restituted to the French government by Allied troops with four other paintings, 1945.
Musée du Louvre (Paris, France), restituted to Christiane Gentili di Giuseppe, Emmanuelle Maupas, Daniel Salem, and Lionel Salem, 1999.
Christiane (Castel) Gentili di Giuseppe and Emmanuelle (Salem) Maupas and Daniel Salem and Lionel Salem [sold, Christie's, New York, January 27, 2000, lot 82, to the J. Paul Getty Museum.]
***
The third painting, a Seurat at the MoMa, was also looted by Nazis. It was restituted to Paul Rosenberg in June of 1948.
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/80354
Remark: So far we see that by searching for the name of a restorer (Frau Hofer) on the OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit Red Flag list, and then removing the people who are unrelated to her (Philip, Frances, Myron), we are left with three paintings looted by Nazis by the HUSBAND of the restorer and restituted to their owners.
Coincidence and blind luck?
Possible.
Let's try another Red Flag restorer
***
de Wild
| url | provenance |
| https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/228239 | Collection Dumbar, Deventer. Mrs. Dyckmester-Dumbar, Deventer. C.F. L. de Wild, the Hague. [F. Kleinberger, Paris]. Paul M. Warburg, New York,?by descent, to his son, James P. Warburg, New York, (by 1932)gift, to the Fogg Art Museum, 1962.;Notes;Paul M. Warburg died 1932. |
| https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/226624 | Mme Devos, sold July 9, 1910, to [Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, no. 18230], sold, to [Knoedler, New York], sold December 5, 1916, to Carel F.L. de Wild, Larchmont, NY (1), his sale [Anderson Galleries, New York, January 18-19, 1924, lot 309]. [Scott & Fowles, New York], sold (2), to Duncan Stewart Ellsworth, Salisbury, Connecticut, bequeathed, to his wife Helen W. Ellsworth, gift, to Harvard University Art Museums, 1996.;(1) Wildenstein incorrectly lists his middle initials as P.L. rather than F.L.;(2) Wildenstein incorrectly lists "private collection, United States," after Scott & Fowles and before Duncan Ellsworth. Mrs. Ellsworth states that her husband purchased the painting from Scott & Fowles (letter of Dec. 9, 1996, in file). |
| https://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.50721.html | Said to have been at the Imperial Hermitage Gallery, Saint Petersburg.[1] (D. Katz, Dieren), by 1933; J.M.B. Beuker, Heelsum, by 1934;[2] by inheritance to his widow, Mrs. J.C. Beuker [née De Kruyff van Dorssen]; sold 5 April 1967 through (A. Martin de Wild, The Hague) to NGA.[1] In the catalogues for the 1934 and 1938 exhibitions in which it was included, the painting was described as having been previously in the collection of the Hermitage. However, the picture is not listed in any of that museum's collection catalogues.[2] Labels from the 1933 and 1934 exhibitions both say that Katz was the “exhibitor,” but they give two different names as the “owner” (removed from the back of the painting, now in NGA curatorial files). The owner’s name on the 1933 label is difficult to decipher, but appears to be two initials followed by “te H.” The owner’s name on the 1934 label clearly reads “J.M.B. Beuker Heelsum.” |
| https://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.91173.html | Sir Anthony Westcombe [died 1752]; Bernard Granville; by descent to his heirs (their sale, London, Puttick & Simpson, 22 December 1857, probably part of lot 94); Charles Fairfax Murray [1849-1919]; (his sale, London, Christie's 30 January-2 February 1920, part of lot 164); purchased by Frank Sabin; Hendrikus Egbertus ten Cate [1868-1955] (Lugt 533b), Almelo; (Gallery L. de Wild, New York); J. Theodor Cremer (his sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 17 November 1980, lot 63); purchased by Jacob A. Klaver (his sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 10 May 1994, lot 63, not sold); purchased (via Sotheby's from Klaver heirs) by NGA, October 1994. |
| https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459083 | Commissioned by Jan van Duren, Deventer, his son, Damiaan van Duren, his daughter, Elisabeth van Duren, who married Martinus Van Doorninck in 1738, by descent to M. van Doorninck D Jzn., Deventer, by 1882 and still in 1897, P.W. van Doorninck, Bennekom and later Colmschate, at least 1901-1909, C. F. L. de Wild, The Hague, [F. Kleinberger Galleries, Paris and New York], Charles Beistegui, Paris, by 1912, [M. Knoedler and Co., London and New York]. Acquired by Philip Lehman from Knoedler in November 1912. |
| https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/381623 | Collection Johnson Neale, T. Mark Hovell, sale, Sotheby's, London (British), 3 July 1918, part of lot 124, P. & D. Colnaghi && Co.;Anton W. Mensing, his sale, Amsterdam, April 24, 1937, part of lot 218, A. Mayor, C. F. Louis de Wild (American), Karl Lilienfeld (American), Herbert E. Feist, May-June, 1967, cat. 5, John Steiner and Alice F. Steiner (American), Steiner Family Collection by descent, Donor: Katrin Bellinger |
| https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459084 | Commissioned by Jan van Duren, Deventer, his son, Damiaan van Duren, his daughter, Elisabeth van Duren, who married Martinus van Doorninck in 1738, by descent to M. van Doorninck D Jzn., Deventer, by 1882 and still in 1897, P.W. van Doorninck, Bennekom and later Colmschate, at least 1901-1909, C. F. L. de Wild, The Hague, [F. Kleinberger Galleries, Paris and New York], [Thomas Agnew and Sons, London], [M. Knoedler and Co., London and New York], 1912. Acquired by Philip Lehman from Knoedler in February 1912. |
(to be continued)
TRY IT https://www.openartdata.org/search/label/Looted%20Art%20Detector
* searching for Hofer ("Frau Hofer") finds three Nazi-linked artworks that passed through her husband. However in the first painting the restorer is Julian Acampora.
