Tate to return Henry Gibbs painting looted by Nazis

Telegraph

29-03-2025

Tate Britain is to return a 17th-century painting to the family of a Jewish Belgian art collector after the work was looted by the Nazis.
The Spoliation Advisory Panel, which examines requests for objects taken during the Nazi era to be returned from the UK's public collections, said the 1654 work Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Burning Troy by the English painter Henry Gibbs was 'looted as an act of racial persecution'.
The heirs and great-grandchildren of Samuel Hartveld would receive the work, which the art collector left behind in Antwerp as he fled Belgium with his wife in 1940, the Government announced on Saturday.
Hartveld survived the war, but was never reunited with his collection of paintings. Most of the works were looted and sold by the German authorities, with Hartveld and his family receiving none of the proceeds, the panel found. Some of his artworks may have changed hands several times since 1940 and are believed to be in galleries across Europe.
The Gibbs painting was bought from Galerie Jan de Maere, an art gallery in Brussels, in 1994 by the Tate collection.
In May 2024, the Sonia Klein Trust, established by Hartveld's heirs, launched a claim.
'Awful persecution'
In a statement, the trustees said they were 'deeply grateful' for the decision to return the painting.
'This decision clearly acknowledges the awful Nazi persecution of Samuel Hartveld and that the 'clearly looted' painting belonged to Mr Hartveld, a Jewish Belgian art collector and dealer,' they added.
'The trustees acting for the Sonia Klein Trust further thank the staff at Tate Britain for working with the trustees and their legal representative Dr Hannes Hartung, to realise the return of this important painting by a highly regarded British painter.'
The Sonia Klein Trust was started in 1986 by Sonia Klein, who was previously named in a will as the daughter of Hartveld's widow, Clara, who died in 1951. Her grandchildren Barbara, Daniel and Mark Floersheimer are trustees.
Maria Balshaw, the director of Tate, said: 'It is a profound privilege to help reunite this work with its rightful heirs, and I am delighted to see the spoliation process working successfully to make this happen.
'Although the artwork's provenance was extensively investigated when it was acquired in 1994, crucial facts concerning previous ownership of the painting were not known.
'I would like to thank the Sonia Klein Trust and the Spoliation Advisory Panel for their collaboration over the last year. We now look forward to welcoming the family to Tate in the coming months and presenting the painting to them.'
'Absolutely the right decision'
The Spoliation Advisory Panel said the 'legal and moral claims to restitution' for the heirs of someone 'forced to flee his homeland, leaving behind his property, books and art collection, are obvious', and recommended that it should be returned.
Sir Chris Bryant, the arts minister, praised the panel for 'helping to reunite families with their most treasured possessions that were looted by the Nazis '.
'The decision to return the painting to the heirs of Samuel Hartveld and his wife is absolutely the right decision, which I welcome wholeheartedly,' he added.
The painting, which is not on display at the Tate, is believed to be a commentary on exile during the English Civil War.
It depicts scenes from The Aeneid, a Latin poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans.
The independent Spoliation Advisory Panel, which began in 2000, has received 23 claims, with 14 works being returned to the heirs of their former owners.
The Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009 allows national museums to return cultural objects, with the panel's recommendation and the arts minister's agreement.