Tate Britain returns Nazi-Looted Painting after Investigation by Belgian Journalist Geert Sels

Without any resistance, Tate Britain has agreed to the recommendations of an advisory committee. After passing through the British Parliament, Secretary of State Chris Bryant signed off on the decision. All parties agree that the painting Aeneas and His Family Fleeing Burning Troy by Henry Gibbs is Nazi-looted art and must therefore be returned to its rightful owners—the heirs of Samuel Hartveld, a Jewish art dealer who owned a gallery in Antwerp.

"When the artwork was purchased in 1994, its provenance was extensively researched," says Maria Balshaw, director of Tate Britain. "However, some crucial elements regarding the painting's previous ownership were unknown to us."

Henry Gibbs, Courtesy Tate Britain

Those "crucial elements" were provided to the museum by Geert Sels, journalist and author of the book Kunst voor Das Reich.

Geert Sels explains: "At the end of 2022, I brought the matter to their attention, just before my book Kunst voor Das Reich, about Nazi-looted art was published in Belgium and Belgian newspaper De Standard ran a story on it. Using documents from more than ten different archives, Samuel Hartveld's history was reconstructed."

He continues: "Belgian archives contained evidence that the Nazis had seized the entire art library of Hartveld's gallery. However, it was only through research in a Paris archive that it became clear his paintings had also fallen in Nazi hands."

"In the Paris archive, a Bestallungsurkunde was found-a formal document in which the Nazis, in 1942, ceremoniously appointed an Aryan administrator for the gallery. By that time, Samuel Hartveld and his wife had already fled to the United States. After a superficial financial audit, the administrator advised that the gallery and its stock of paintings should be liquidated. The proceeds from such sales went to the Nazis."

"An appraisal of 66 paintings suggested they were to be auctioned, however this never happened. Records from the Antwerp-based auditor René Van de Broek revealed that he had purchased everything. He claimed to have paid a market-confirming price of 200.000 francs for both the building and the paintings. Knowing that Hartveld had taken out a mortgage of 800.000 francs for the building alone, this was clearly a bargain price."

"On the 1942 appraisal list, the painting was considered an Italian work, titled 'Incendie de Troye. Ené et Anchyse'. It was classified as a piece from the 17th-century Italian school. In 1994, Tate Britain acquired it on the Belgian art market. The museum later discovered a signature on a central column in the painting and identified it as belonging to Henry Gibbs. For Tate Britain, this represents a unique piece of British heritage. The signature matches documents linked to a 17th-century ship owner and mayor of Canterbury. It is the only known painting by him," Sels says.

Tate Britain has expressed its intention to return the painting to Hartveld's American descendants in the coming months and at the end of April another painting from Hartveld's collection will be auctioned at Dorotheum in Vienna.

This painting was purchased in good faith by an art dealer who noticed that it was listed in the Looted Art Belgium database. Not wanting to possess a "tainted" painting, nor to pass it off to an obscure auction house to burden someone else with it, he reached an agreement with Hartveld's heirs. As a result, the work will be sold in Vienna.

Snyders, Courtesy Dorotheum

"The efficiency with which restitutions are handled abroad starkly contrasts with the sluggish process in Belgium. As in most other countries, the United Kingdom has a policy on Nazi-looted art. When a claim is made, everyone knows what to do. Museums follow established procedures, and there is a restitution committee of experts to whom rightful claimants can turn? A claim moves relatively quickly through the system."

He continuous: "Belgium, however, lags painfully behind other nations. The painting 'Portrait of Bishop Antonius Triest' by Gaspar de Crayer is currently being claimed by the heirs of Hartveld at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent (MSKG). René Van de Broek sold it in 1948 for 50.000 francs to the Bijloke Museum, now known as STAM. Later, it ended up as MSKG's neighbouring institution."

The handling of the claim is slow because Belgium lacks both a restitution committee and clear guidelines. The city of Ghent has now appointed an ad-hoc committee. The question remains whether this committee operates within the same framework as a national policy-one that will hopefully be established in the future.

The new Flemish Minister of Culture, Caroline Gennez (Vooruit), has pledged to tackle the issue. At the end of February, she acknowledged in the Flemish Parliament that "too little has been done over the past 27 years" and that "we should have had a substantive framework for a restitution policy long ago." The Minister is now working on establishing a permanent restitution committee and drafting guidelines for handling claims in the short term. These will prove to be highly useful.

Main Image: Geert Sels, Photo by Alexander Meeus