Left: Neuschwanstein, Germany, May 1945 The Monument Men recovering looted art by the Nazis Right: Nicolas de Largillierre Portrait de femme a mi-corps, estimate €50,000-80,000 to be auctioned on 21 November in Paris. UPDATE: THIS WAS SOLD FOR €529,200
A painting recovered by the Monument Men will be auctioned at Christie’s in Paris on November 21. Nicolas de Largillierre Portrait de femme a mi-corps, painted around the turn of the 18th century, will be part of the Old Masters sale in Paris. It is part of an iconic photograph taken in May 1945 on the steps of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, showing James J. Rorimer of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archive Section together with three soldiers of the 7th US Army, holding three of the many works of art looted by the Germans. Looted from the bank vault of Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) in Arcachon in late 1940 and transferred to the Jeu de Paume in Paris in February 1941, the portrait was recovered by the Monuments Men in May 1945, days before the end of World War II. It was officially restituted to the Rothschild family on May 3, 1946 and remained in their collection until 1978 when it was bought at auction by today’s owner. The Monument Men were greatly helped by Rose Valland (1898-1980), a French art historian and curator at the Jeu de Paume in Paris and a member of the Resistance. During the German occupation of Paris (1940-44) the Jeu de Paume served as warehouse for many works of looted art. Valland secretly recorded details of art plundered by the Nazis.
The Monuments Men and Women Foundation will launch the first ever English edition of Front de l’Art [The Art Front] – Valland’s pioneering work, first published in French in 1961, at Christie’s in New York on December 10. Rose Valland was awarded multiple honors, inluding the médaille de la Résistance française (1946). She was named Officer of the Légion d’honneur, and Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Abroad, she was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1948) and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1972), becoming one of the most decorated French women ever.
