Art History Exam Ii

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Royal Castle, Warsaw, 16th century

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National symbol of pride for the polish people. Served throughout the centuries as the official residence of the Polish monarchs. It is said that as long as the castle's tower stands, the spirit of the Polish people would remain strong. During the first Nazi invasion, German soldiers damaged the palace and rigged its structural support with dynamite. They wanted suffocate the Polish spirit. The Nazi's really loathed the Polish. In 1944 during the Warsaw uprising, the Nazi's detonated the dynamite destroying the palace. The Nazi party took over in less than five weeks.

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Antoine Watteau, "Polish Girl", 1717. From the Lazienki Palace.

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Albrecht Dürer, Dead Christ, 1505.Ex-Lubomirski Collection. Cleveland Museum of Art.

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Albrecht Dürer,Fortuna in a niche, 1498.Ex-Lubomirski Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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Albrecht Dürer, Self-portrait, study of a hand and pillow, 1493. Ex-Lubomirski Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NewYork.

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Rembrandt van Rijn, Landscape with the GoodSamaritan, 1638. Czartoryski Museum, Cracow.

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Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), Portrait of a young man, ca.1514. Lost.

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Leonardo daVinci, Lady with an ermine (Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani), ca. 1490. Czartoryski Museum, Cracow.

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Veit Stoss, "High Altar of St. Mary", 1477-89. Wood and polychrome. Church of St. Mary (OurLady), Cracow. " Deathof the Virgin"

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Veit Stoss, "The Altarpiece", 1477-1484.

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Who were the two key figures in Nazi Looting in Poland?

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Hans Frank and Katejan Mühlmann. Frank was the Governor General of Poland, Supreme Ruler in that territory. He made a provision issuing the confiscation of art objects in the general government. He was very harsh and clear that everything was subject to confiscation. Mühlmann was an art historian who was a key figure in the Vienna Model and oversaw two units who conducted raids on museums and estates. Mühlmann created albums and catalogs with choices of art that were sent to Hitler and Hitler would constantly study them to enhance his museum.

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Who was Hans Posse?

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Director of Führer museum

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Jean-SiméonChardin, "Soap Bubbles", 1733-34

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Attributedto Donatello, Borromeo Madonna, circa1450

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LucasCranach the Elder, "Adam and Eve", ca. 1530

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Rembrandt, "Nightwatch", 1642

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Michelangelo, "Bruges Madonna", 1504

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DirkBouts, Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament (“Last Supper Altarpiece”),1464-68

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Janand Hubert van Eyck, "Altarpiece of the Lamb" (“Ghent Altarpiece”), 1432

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GerardDou, "The Dentist", ca. 1675

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Jan Vermeer, "The Astronomer",1668

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Henri Matisse, "Odalisque withTambourine" (Harmony in Blue), 1926

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Henri Matisse, "Daisies" (Marguerites), 16 July 1939

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Greek, Hellenistic Period, "WingedVictory of Samothrace", ca. 190 BCE

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Greek, Hellenistic Period, "Aphrodite" (Venus de Milo), ca. 150-125 BCE

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Michelangelo, "Captive" (TheRebellious Slave), 1513-16

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Peter Paul Rubens, "Arrival of Marie de’ Medici at Marseilles",1622-25

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Leonardo da Vinci, "Mona Lisa",1503

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Théodore Géricault, "The Raft ofthe Medusa", 1818-19.

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HermitageMuseum, St. Petersburg. Pictured is Winter Palace. Designed by Bartolommeo Francesco Rastrelli and constructed 1754-62.

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Rembrandtvan Rijn, "Return of the Prodigal Son",ca. 1666-68

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AlexanderNikolosky, "drawings of a gallery and basement of the Hermitage during theSiege", ca. 1941-44.

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PavlovskPalace, 1780-1825. (South of St. Petersburg).

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PaoloTriscorni, "Three Graces", late 18thcentury.

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Peterhof,from 1705.

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Neptune Fountain at Peterhof

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SamsonFountain at Peterhof

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CatherinePalace, early 18th century.

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Amber Room, designed by Andreas Schlüter from 1701,expanded through 18th century located at Catherine Palace.

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Monte Cassino(Benedictine monastery), Original expansion and consecration in the 11thcentury.

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Michelangelo, "Doni Madonna", c. 1503.

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Leonardo da Vinci, "Adoration of the Magi", 1481

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Titian, "Pastoral Concert", early 1500s

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Sandro Botticelli, "Pallasand the Centaur", ca. 1482

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Hellenistic Greek, "Medici Venus"

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Michelangelo, "Bacchus", 1497

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Donatello, "David", 1430s

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Giambologna, "Equestrian statue of Cosimo I de’ Medici",1598

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Group of Four - "Captives (Slaves)", ca. 1505-21

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Michelangelo, "David", 1501-04

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Jacopo Robusti (calledTintoretto), "Last Supper", ca. 1570

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Late Roman Empire, "Archof Constantine", 312-15 AD.

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Roman Empire, "Column ofTrajan", dedicated 112 AD.

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Leonardo da Vinci, "LastSupper", 1495-98

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Myron, "Discobolus (Discus thrower)",Roman copy after original Greek bronze (lost) of ca. 450 BCE

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Jan and Hubert van Eyck, Altarpiece of the Lamb, 1432. The art historical significance is that the work is a technical virtuosity, beautifully and intricately painted to specific detail, while at the same time telling a symbolic story of the many fundamentals of Christianity.

Dirk Bouts, Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament, 1464-68. The art historical significance is that, like the Ghent Altarpiece, it is beautifully painted with intricate details and bright colors, while highlighting the process of Communion in the Church.

Hitler wanted these works because they were masterpieces, but also because Germany had been forced to return panels from both works as part of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I. Many of the moves made by Hitler during the war were retribution for what he saw as the unfair terms of the Treaty, and the way it punished Germany.

The man in the upper left corner is Dr. Ernst Buchner. He was the head of the Bavarian State Painting Collection. He would advise both Hitler and Hans Posse, the director of the Fuhrermuseum. Buchner was involved not only in the purchase of art from Aryanized businesses in Belgium, but also had a history of dealing with Jewish dealers before the occupation of the country to arrange “safekeeping” for their treasures. Hitler had ordered Buchner to go to the Chateau of Pau in France to claim the Altarpiece of the Lamb and have it sent to Berlin. In 1942, the work was sent to a repository that held ERR confiscated works. Later, he would be involved in the further movement of the van Eyck work to the salt mines in Altaussee. Buchner was also able to convince Hitler that the Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament should be seized from the church in Louvain, Belgium and returned to Germany as part of righting another wrong of Versailles. He did that in August, 1942.

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The ERR (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg) was the Nazi task force, headed by Alfred Rosenberg, that was the looting mechanism of Jewish people and their property.

It was originally intended to gather Jewish archives and religious works to be sent back to Germany for study. The belief was that this would provide proof for the ideology, fostered by Rosenberg in The Myth of the 20th Century, that the Jews were inferior and that the population should be eliminated. Instead, the ERR quickly became the unit for the complete confiscation of Jewish personal property. The looting was carried out by a special unit of the SS secret police, the SD forces.

The Nazis instituted the Vienna Model, as originally used in Austria, to carry out their looting in Belgium. The Nazis issued decrees stripping Jewish people of their rights that began with a prohibition on religious animal sacrifice, followed a year later by a move that excluded Jewish people from economic activity, and continued in 1942 with the first round-up of Jews to be sent to the concentration camps in Auschwitz. From 1940-44, the ERR, led in Belgium by H. Muchow, liquidated the contents of over 45-hundred Jewish homes. The directive known as Mobel Aktion authorized the seizure of everything from big ticket items like art and furniture all the way down to glasses, dishes and common household goods.

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The Warsaw Castle, located in Warsaw, Poland, served throughout the centuries as the official residence of Polish monarchs. It is said that so long as the Castle’s tower stands, the spirit of the Polish people would remain strong and proud; it is their White House and a national icon. During the first Nazi invasion, German soldiers damaged the palace and rigged its structural supports with dynamite to serve as a warning for the poles: obey or else. They meant to suffocate the polish spirit under the pressure of a Nazi thumb by stealing the ownership one of the peoples greatest treasures. The Poles were an especially disliked by the Nazi people, they wanted to teach the “vermin “ a lesson by destroying their sense of nationalism from the beginning--- the destruction of the castle was a prime way of doing so. In August of 1944, during the Warsaw uprising, the SS detonated the rigged palace dynamite destroying what was left of the structure. This served in parallel with the destruction of Poland and the murders of so many of its citizens.

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The name of the Nazi-occupied Polish territory, which includes the cities of Warsaw and Cracow, and a population of 14-million people, is the General Government of Poland. Hans Frank was the Governor General of Poland. Kajetan Muhlmann was the Special Commissioner for the Protection of Monuments and Art Objects in the General Government. The Nazis, under the leadership of these two men, were brutal in their treatment of the Polish people.

Early in the Nazi occupation, Frank issued a directive that effectively stated that everything was subject to confiscation. This included, but was not limited to, private property, church property and state collections. Citizens were also expected to give full information on any property they might own so it could be seized by the Nazis. Muhlmann had experience in cultural plunder. He had helped execute the Vienna Model in Austria, and the Aryanization of that region. In Poland, he commanded two units of soldiers charged with the express purpose of looting and raiding churches, estates, museums and any place where cultural property might exist. If the units needed help in claiming their plunder, the SS units of the Gestapo (Secret Police) were called in to assist. Few members of the Polish population escaped the wrath and brutality of the Nazi attack on cultural property. Muhlmann also compiled the five-volume journal of prime Polish art that he felt should be confiscated and returned to German control. The journal drew the attention of Dr. Hans Posse, the Director of the Fuherermuseum.

Even as the Nazis were taking possession of the country, they were executing well planned raids on Polish art treasures. One example of the mechanism for looting and plunder was the tracking of the Czartoryski collection. The family had moved its extensive collection of art work, 5-thousand works, from Cracow to a country home in Sienawa. The Nazis used knowledge gained from Gestapo torture to learn of the exact location of the art. Once found, they attacked the hiding place, a wall built to cover the treasures, and extracted not only the art, but gold, silver and other loot. In some cases, the art was treated badly and nonchalantly, before it was claimed and sent on to Berlin for further evaluation.

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Left: The Altarpiece, Veit Stoss, (Kraków Poland 1477-1484): The Altarpiece was carved between 1477 and 1484 by Veit Stoss for St. Mary’s Basilica. In 1941, during the German occupation, the Altarpeiece, previously dismantled and hidden, was plundered and shipped to the Third Reich on the order of Hans Frank. It was recovered in 1946 in Bavaria, hidden in the basement of the heavily bombed Nurembeg Castle. It underwent major restoration work in Poland and was put back in its place in 1957 intact.
Middle: Lady with an Ermine, Leonardo da Vinci, 1489: It was incorporated into the Czartoryskis’ family collections in circa 1800. To protect the collection, including “Lady with an Ermine”, the family bricked them up into the wall at their summerhouse. Eventually the paintings’ locations were revealed and the Gestapo. Upon arrival, they took all the gold/silver/ small objects that they could easily carry and left Lady with an Ermine: the SS eventually came back for the aforementioned painting.
Right: Albrecht Dürer, Self-portrait, study of a hand and pillow, 1493: Originally looted by Napoleon from Vienna in the 1800s, the Prince acquired them and were housed in Poland. Posse requested these sketches for Lintz. However, Lvov was under soviet control; during the attack these drawings were seized due to their “German provenance” and Hitler kept them in his personal possession till the end of the war.

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Consider the situation of Jewish art dealers in occupied territories. Identify (name) one of the dealers we have discussed in class. Then describe their plight and the fate of their artworks. Name other figures (Nazi or allied) and describe their role in this particular dealer's wartime situation.

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One of the Jewish art dealers discussed in class was Paul Rosenberg. He was a popular art dealer in Paris, who not only bought and sold the works of the masters like Picasso and Henri Matisse, he was friends with them. Rosenberg had followed in his father’s footsteps to develop a trade in Impressionist paintings and the Avant Garde. When the Germans invaded Poland in September, 1939, Rosenberg closed his gallery in Paris, and instructed workers to begin moving paintings to locations outside of the city. He had rented a castle at Floirac as one of his storage locations. His plan, a common one during the war, was to get the works of art away from large cities that might be the targets of bombing raids, and make it harder for the Nazis to find those works.

When the Nazis came into France, Rosenberg and his family secured passage to the United States. His hope was to have his art sent to New York, but he was betrayed when informants told Otto Abetz of the German Foreign Embassy the location of all his stored collection. Abetz was particularly aggressive in his quest for Jewish owned art. He had raided 15 Jewish owned galleries at the start of the Nazi occupation of France. When Abetz seized Rosenberg’s entire collection, it was first taken to the German embassy, then to the Louvre, and finally to the ERR holding facility at the Jeu de Paume art gallery in Paris. Reichsmarshal Herman Goring benefited directly from Rosenburg’s collection, and often visited the Jeu de Paume to claim new additions to his own art holdings.

Rosenberg complained to the Vichy Government about the violation of his rights as a French citizen. He lived 14 years after the end of World War II and spent much of his life working to claim the return of his property. His heirs continue to fight many of his custody battles over his art collection even in 2016.

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Jan Vermeer, The Astronomer, 1668. The pre-war owner of the painting was Edouard de Rothschild, a collector with not only a vast collection of art, but with great wealth as a banker, industrialist, businessman and philanthropist as a patron of the arts in France. The Rothschild family had several homes in Paris and chateaus outside of the city that housed more than 5-thousand paintings, plus sculptures and other treasures. They entrusted some of their collection to the French National Gallery. Workers there, under the direction of museum director Jacques Jaujard, falsified documents, forged signatures and hid Rothschild work with museum pieces. The result was to safeguard some of the Rothschild’s collection, and allow an easy return of the art after the war.

Much of the collection wasn’t as fortunate. On the day Otto Abetz of the German Foreign Embassy ordered the raids on 15 Jewish owned art galleries, in the name of safeguarding French works of art, he also targeted the Rothschild family. The ERR was thorough in going through every possible location tied to the family and took not only the art, but all their personal property that hadn’t already been evacuated. The Vermeer painting was seized, but thanks to the work of French resistance workers like Jaujard and Rose Viland at the Jeu de Paume, the painting was returned to the family after the war. Viland kept copies of the Nazi’s precise records and photographs. Her heroism over a four-year period allowed many of the stolen art pieces to be traced by the Monuments officers and returned to rightful owners. The Astronomer currently resides at the Louvre in Paris.

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The picture in the top left corner is the protection of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" which was created in 1495-1498. It was located at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. They covered the work and used sandbags as well as wooden and iron scaffolds on either side of the wall and then went over it with plywood and bordered it up to protect it from bombings.

The middle picture on the top is an effort to protect Jacopo Tintoretto's "Last Supper", c. 1570. It was located in San Stefano. They removed the canvas and rolled it up similarly to a rug.

The picture on the far right on the top is the attempt of protecting Late Imperial Rome's "Arch of Constantine" which was constructed in 312-15 AD. They bricked up this monument. This was a triumphal arch that commemorated Constantine's victory as he marched back into Rome and reunited Rome.

The bottom left picture is the Castello Poppi which held a lot of statues included the last two pictures. Donatello's "David" is the middle and Michelangelo's "Bacchus" is the final picture. These were deposited in the Castello Poppi and they were moved a couple of times.

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The man on the left is SS Colonel Dr. Alexander Langsdorff. The paintings listed (from left to right) are Cranach's "Adam and Eve" c. 1528. The middle image is of Botticelli's "Pallas and the Centaur" ca. 1482. Langsdorff was given many resources to "rescue" treasures from museums. Langsdorff removes sculptures and multiple pictures. It is important to note that they don't take everything, they take what they think is important and what they can fit on their trucks. In September of 1944 they stopped just short of the border to unload things into repositories. Specifically, they unloaded Florentine artworks into a jail in San Leonardo. One of the members of Langsdorff's crew said, "It was the Führer's wish to safeguard these valuables on Italian soil, so that no one abroad should accuse them of looting."