Mauritshuis to Return Jan van Goyen Painting to Jacques Goudstikker's Heirs

The painting was acquired by the Mauritshuis in 1967 for 58,000 guilders (about £6,000 at the time). However, new research has allowed it to be matched with a record from the collection of Goudstikker, who died in 1940 while fleeing by ship to England. His gallery and 1,113 works were transferred without the consent of his widow, and some of the works, including this painting, were sent to Germany and then sold into the collection of Nazi figure Hermann Göring.

The Dutch Minister of Culture, Rianne Letschert, agreed with the official recommendation of the Dutch Restitution Committee to return the work to Marei von Saher, the widow of Goudstikker's only son, Eduard. In a statement, the committee noted that 'the loss of possession is considered involuntary, since Jacques Goudstikker's widow, as the main shareholder of the gallery, did not consent to the transactions.' According to the committee, the sales became possible only through the appointment of a manager sympathetic to the German buyer, and some works were taken to Germany even before the official purchase agreements were signed, which fits the pattern of the Nazi authorities who looted or forced sales and then gave such actions a semblance of legality.

This decision reflects a change in Dutch restitution policy aimed at showing greater 'humanity, transparency and goodwill' in cases of Nazi-looted art, as announced in a 2020 report. Two decades ago, the return of 202 works from Dutch museums to Goudstikker's heirs caused public criticism and fears among museum directors of losing many other works. As noted by art lawyer Auke van Hoek of the Amsterdam law firm Bergh Stoop & Sanders, because of that case, court decisions became stricter, which 'made it more difficult for other claimants to recover their works.'

Nevertheless, according to Judith Niessen, head of collections and research at the Mauritshuis, it was important to do the right thing in the case of this van Goyen painting, which had not figured in previous restitution requests. 'We bought the painting in the 1960s in good faith, and of course we are sad to have to part with it,' she says. 'But it does not belong to us: it left Goudstikker's collection in an unjust way.' She also added that many Jewish families after the war had difficulty recovering lost works: 'Everyone said: "be glad you are alive." I think now we feel that this needs to be corrected in a reasonable way.'

Main Image: Jan van Goyen, 'Fishermen by the Lakeshore' (1651)