Hitler's Art of Painting

Vermeer's The Art of Painting has an almost impeccable provenance: the artist's widow (!)  transferred it to her mother, who sold it at auction in Delft in 1676. 

In the 18th century, however, it disappeared and, in fact, came to be attributed to Pieter de Hooch.

It was as a de Hooch that a prefect in the Imperial Court Library, Vienna, bequeathed it to his son, who sold it to Count Johann Rudolf Czernin in 1813. 

It was reattributed to Vemeer by Thore Burger in 1860.

Hitler bought it  in 1940 for $660,000.

The ensuing story is complicated, but fascinating... 


In short,  Hitler's "Nero" order to blow up the German intrastructure was disregarded by engineers at the salt mine where it was stored as the war seemed lost, because they saw no reason to destroy a good asset (the mine)...and instead just blew up the entrance....


After the war, Count Czernin's great-grandson Jaromir Czernin tried for 15 years to get the painting back. He died in 1966, and his heirs continued the battle. To no avail. The courts have recently ruled on their last appeal that it had not been sold it under duress.

And yet, consider the extenuating circumstances: Jaromir's brother-in-law was the (anti-Nazi) chancellor of Austria from 1934 until the Anschluss (at which time he was imprisoned and held until after the war). Jaromir's wife, the granddaughter of a Jewish banker named Oppenheim, was persecuted. For further details, see this by one of the heirs attorneys.


Hitler owned another Vermeer, The Astronomer, which he seized from (the Jew) Edouard de Rothschild.

He also acquired the Ghent Altarpiece and the Bruges Madonna.

All for his never-realized museum in Linz.

Perhaps there's a potential blockbuster to be had in reassembling his collection.