Following massive criticism concerning the lack of transparency in the investigation of last week’s
€ 1-billion ($1.35-billion) art trove in Munich, government officials from the Bavarian state administration and the German government published photographs of 25 artworks at LostArt.de, the official lost art internet database, on Monday night. In a joint statement, the Bavarian Ministry of Justice, the German Federal Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Finance explained that the photographs show works potentially eligible for restitution, among them paintings, prints and sketches by Otto Dix, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Auguste Rodin, Max Liebermann, and Canaletto (see the complete list below).
According to the prosecution authorities in the Bavarian city of Augsburg who are investigating the legal aspects of the find, the provenience of a total of 970 of the 1,406 found artworks discovered in Cornelius Gurlitt's Munich apartment require further investigation, 590 of which may have been forcefully taken from their owners during the Nazi regime.
Furthermore, government officials announced that a “qualified taskforce” of at least six specialized experts is to be installed to determine the identity of the art works. The commission will be coordinated by the Post for Provenance Research and Investigation in Berlin.
Further photographs of artworks with unclear provenience are to be posted in the course of the investigation at lostart.de, an Internet database administered by Germany’s Central Office for the Documentation of Lost Cultural Property in Magdeburg.
Here is the list of the 25 works so far released (in alphabetical order):
Canaletto: “Sa. Giustina in Prà della Vale in Padua,” print, 1751/1800
Marc Chagall: “Allegorische Szene” (“Allegorical Scene”), undated painting
Hans Christoph: “Paar” (“Couple”), watercolor, 1924
Honoré Daumier: “Don Quichote und Sancho Panza” (“Don Quichote and Sancho Panza”), painting, ca. 1865
Eugène Delacroix: “Conversation mauresque sur une terrasse,” undated sketch
Otto Dix: “Dame in der Loge,” (“Lady in the Lodge”), watercolor, 1922
Otto Dix: “Dompteuse,” watercolor, 1922
Conrad Felixmüller: “Paar in Landschaft” (“Couple in a Landscape”), watercolor, 1924
Erich Fraaß: “Mutter und Kind” (“Mother and Child”), watercolor, 1922
Bonaventura Genelli: “Männlicher Akt” (“Male Nude”), undated sketch
Ludwig Godenschweg: “Männliches Bildnis” (“Male Portrait”), undated print
Ludwig Godenschweg: “Weiblicher Akt” (“Female Nude”), undated print
Otto Griebel: “Kind am Tisch,” (“Child at Table”), undated watercolor
Otto Griebel: “Die Verschleierte” (“Veiled Woman”), watercolor, 1926
Bernhard Kretschmar: “Straßenbahn” (“Streetcar”), undated watercolor
Wilhelm Lachnit: “Mädchen am Tisch” (“Girl at Table”), watercolor, 1923
Wilhelm Lachnit: “Mann und Frau am Fenster” (“Man and Woman at Window”), watercolor, 1923
Max Liebermann: “Reiter am Strand” (“Horse Rider at the Beach”), painting, 1901
Fritz Maskos: “Sinnende Frau” (“Thoughtful Woman”), print, 1922
Henri Matisse: “Sitzende Frau / In einem Sessel sitzende Frau” (“Sitting Woman/Woman Sitting in an Armchair”), painting, ca. 1924
Auguste Rodin: “Etude de femme nue debout, les bras relevés, les mains croisées au-dessus de la tête” (“Study of a Woman”), undated sketch
Théodore Rousseau: “Vue de la vallée de la Seine,” undated sketch
Carl Spitzweg: “Das Klavierspiel,” (“Piano Playing”), sketch, ca. 1840
Christoph Voll: “Mönch” (“Monk”), watercolor, 1921
Christoph Voll: “Sprengmeister Hantsch,” (“Chief Blaster Hantsch”), sketch, 1922
