Comments on: Cranach Madonna stolen by priest returned to Poland

By: BWA

BWA — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:41:38 +0000

My point was a little narrower and pointing only to universal willingness among individuals to both thievery and receiving stolen goods, that (dubious Swiss laws notwithstanding)the anonymous collector of this piece could have been from any country on earth. (And, as mentioned above, even in Switzerland he felt obliged to be uber discreet- how much in fear of PR, how much in fear of the law, only he can say.) As to wholesale theft and questionable law of ownership, consider the Soviets who took trainloads of personal property (including items belonging to relatives of mine) not just from Germany, but also - Poland. Many in Russia still consider this stuff legitimate war booty. But then, not even everything that Bonaparte stole has been returned to their points of origin, and at this point, probably never will be. Oh, it's all bad.

By: Edward Goldberg

Edward Goldberg — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 08:00:38 +0000

You go, girl! I would definitely dump on Switzerland! Looted odds and ends trickled back to America and other countries after WW II but Switzerland has cynically exploited their neutral status and morally bankrupt laws to recycle stolen art and/or illegally excavated antiquities (not to mention drug and terrorist money…just to begin the list)for several generations, at least.

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 19:35:40 +0000

Switzerland is a particular case, though, because a lot of that dubious material now in the US was trafficked through it. Due to its keen appreciation of looking the other way and tax-free, no-questions-asked, customs policies, Switzerland has been a central staging area for literally thousands of looted artifacts that we know of, probably millions that we don’t. Giacomo Medici’s warehouse in Freeport was found to contain more than 10,000 artifacts with dirt still on them and thousands of Polaroids of other objects already sold to collectors and major museums. Police found more than 6,000 looted artifacts in Gianfranco Becchina’s warehouse in Basel, and 8,000 photographs of unreported archaeological finds.

You can’t really compare that kind of bulk trafficking to individual soldiers stealing artifacts in WWII, no matter how much of that went on. Switzerland’s laws have provided cover for unscrupulous dealers in looted antiquities for decades, which is why the “anonymous Swiss collector” has become a cliche’ of falsified ownership records. What’s surprising about this case is that for once there actually was a real anonymous Swiss collector buying stolen goods. Usually that part is made up.

By: BWA

BWA — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 19:14:10 +0000

I wouldn't dump on Switzerland in particular. Plenty of dubiously provenanced material wound up in the US after the war and is without doubt gathering dust in grandpa's attic or worse, disintegrating in some trash heap because the heirs either didn't recognize the value or thought it too hot to handle. Kenneth Alford's Allied Looting in World War Two makes for dispiriting reading

By: Edward Goldberg

Edward Goldberg — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 08:01:54 +0000

Your friend and mine, the Anonymous Swiss Collector, played a nice (posthumous) trick on the Diocese of Saint Gallen. I hope that he was rewarded with an appreciative chuckle, wherever he is. I am afraid that celebration of the recovery of the Csartoryski Raphael was somewhat premature. The official spokesman for the Polish government had to roll back the announcement, clarifying that they had information that the picture was in a bank vault…somewhere…but they didn’t know where. Yes, an “Undisclosed Bank Vault”–which ranks right up there with “Swiss Private Collector”! Here is a recent account of the story of the Czartoryski Raphael:

http://www.3pipe.net/2012/08/the-czartoryski-raphael.html#more

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:43:51 +0000

Sad but true. I like to think attitudes towards art theft in Switzerland are slowly changing, but there’s so much underground that we haven’t even scratched the surface.

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:42:08 +0000

Silesia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bohemia in the early 14th century. The kingdom in turn was incorporated into the Habsburg Empire in the 16th century, then ceded to the Kingdom of Prussia in the 18th century during the War of Austria Succession. From then on it stayed in German hands through various configurations until Potsdam.

The region of Bohemia today is in the Czech Republic and obviously does not include Silesia, but the map of Europe in 1510 was very different.

Speaking of which, Norman Davies is one of my very favorite historians. His Europe: A History was a complete revelation, particularly in regards to the construction of west and east which he entirely upends. I’ll keep my eye open for reasonably priced copies of Microcosm.

By: miss sophie

miss sophie — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:39:46 +0000

Great that they got it back. The “fir tree” itself, however, does not really rock me: Parts of the castle in the upper left hand corner seem to be flying in the air and “mother and child”, contrastingly, appear rather static – which is alright for a cathedral.

Hence, time for two more dynamic examples that will hopefully never end up in Switzerland: example_a and example_b – Is the “mother” the same in both versions ?

By: Mr. Murphy in VA

Mr. Murphy in VA — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:49:09 +0000

Alas, even the hubris and deceit of your ever-familiar anonymous Swiss collector couldn’t withstand the light of day after donating it to a church of all places. How on earth can anyone enjoy having something that was stolen from innocent people? This person wasn’t an art collector; he/she was a common thief at best. May the relatives and representatives of this crook inherit the shame he/she has brought onto his/her family and community. But then again, it’s Switzerland and art treasures that we’re talking about.

By: David Emery

David Emery — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:19:04 +0000

Breslau is in Silesia, not Bohemia. (Those are the German spellings, in Polish it’s Wrocław and Śląsk.) Breslau/Wrocław is also the subject of a fascinating book by Norman Davies and Roger Moorehouse called “Microcosm” http://www.amazon.com/Microcosm-Norman-Davies/dp/0712693343 The book is hard to find in the US, but worth the effort. (We visited Poland this spring and I found an English copy there.)

This is the second great recovery for Poland, after the Krakow Raphael, see http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Polands-longlost-Raphael-found/26991