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Hitler Showing off Nazis Stolen Art

Extensive investigations were instigated immediately after the end of the war in 1945 by Julius Priester, who also ensured that there was international publicity about the identity of his missing paintings. The investigations have continued over the decades since his death, taken up by his family and heirs to the collection, and latterly by the Commission for Looted Art in Europe. It was established that the El Greco painting had been sent from Vienna to a dealer in New York in 1951 who passed it on to a well-known New York dealer who passed it on to a well-known London dealer and from there eventually to a private owner in Switzerland in 2003. The identity of the owner was masked by a trust which did not respond to any communications. In June last year the painting was identified for sale in New York where it was on commission from another London dealer and a claim was immediately made by the Commission for Looted Art in Europe. Settlement was reached quickly, the evidence being conclusive, and the painting has now been returned to its rightful owners.

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Anne Webber, Co-Chair of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, said: "The story of the seizure and trade of this painting over a period of more than 60 years shows how much the art trade has been involved in the disposal of Nazi-looted art and how difficult it is for those who have been dispossessed to find and recover their property, however well publicised their losses. We are pleased that the dealer with whom the painting ultimately resurfaced was immediately aware of the significance of the case and willing to enable the painting's return." Christopher A. Marinello, CEO of Art Recovery International, said: "This case proves that equitable restitution of looted works is attainable. Without the strength and precision of the historic claim on one side and the compliance and co-operation of the gallery on the other, this would never have been possible. "

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While governments and museums have faced the issue of the Nazis' looting of art owned by Jews, art dealers and private collectors are not bound by the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art, signed by 45 countries in 1998. Even the existence of databases documenting looted works is of little use unless the parties possessing the works cooperate.

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Mr. Priester, who fled Vienna in 1938, ending up in Mexico City, began searching for the collection he had entrusted to the care of a friend immediately after the end of World War II. Before his death in 1954 he worked together with the Austrian authorities to try to recover works, relying on documentation and photographs of them.

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One image shows the El Greco portrait of a bearded man, leaning on a book with his left hand across his chest and a deep, reflective gaze, hanging above the sideboard in the formal dining room of the Priesters' prewar home. It was returned to the family, in Britain, in the same frame as appeared in the picture, Ms. Webber said. In the case of the El Greco the dealer, who has not been identified, responded swiftly to the claim submitted by the commission and the process of recovery took only a matter of months, instead of years, as is often the case, Ms. Webber said. The dealer was given the opportunity to be named and to comment for a news release, but wished to remain anonymous because he has no desire for personal praise and is content knowing that he has done the right thing, his representatives said.

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