A Painting By British Royal Painter Stolen By A Nazi Is Being Auctioned For USD 1.3 Million

Cornelis de Vos Family Painting. (Wikimedia Commons/Dickinson Gallery, London and New York)

JAKARTA - A 17th-century painting recovered from Nazi Germany could sell for more than USD 1.380 million at the Old Masters Evening Sale auction in London, England on Wednesday.

The auction was conducted along with other paintings from the same time period, according to Penta Magazine citing the Jerusalem Post.

The painting, known as the Family Portrait, or the Cornelis de Vos Family is the work of Flemish Baroque artist, Sir Anthony Van Dyck. He was no ordinary painter, but the leading court painter for the British Royal family before his death in 1641.

The painting depicts a family portrait of fellow painter Cornelis de Vos, with his wife Suzanna Cock, and their two children, Magdalena and Jan-Baptis.

Measuring 44 inches, the painting was purchased by Sir Francis Cook in 1868 and remained in his family until the 1930s, when Dutch art dealer Nathan Katz bought ownership of the painting, along with about 40 others.

Cornelis de Vos Family Painting. (Wikimedia Commons/Dickinson Gallery, London and New York)

However, according to the multinational company Sotheby's, a forced sale to the influential Nazi military commander, Herman Goering, saw the painting fall into the hands of the Third Reich until the end of the Second World War.

The painting, Penta explains, was returned to the Katz family in 1948 after it was retrieved by the Monuments Men, special forces museum directors, curators, and American and British historians, who risked their lives to restore the art looted by the Nazis.

The painting was subsequently sold to collector and art lover Emil Georg Buhrle who has put it up for auction at Sotheby's London, where it is expected to sell for between USD 1.38 million and USD 2.07 million, according to Sotheby's website.