I’m going to rewatch Monument Men in the near future. I’ve been long aware that the history of that simple gold bracelet I bought my wife could be quite complex. It’s possible that the gold was freshly panned by someone in the Sierra Navada mountains, then melted into ingots, then squeezed and hammered into a bracelet which I bought. Not likely.
Instead, gold is so honored and so precious, that any gold we have today is likely to be joined by 100 year old gold, one thousand year old gold, and maybe even Egyptian or Babylonian gold. An ounce of gold could have had many lives, and formed into many different pieces of art. One might say that silver and gold are destined to someday be loot in some future war. Then melted down and reformed.
Instead, gold is so honored and so precious, that any gold we have today is likely to be joined by 100 year old gold, one thousand year old gold, and maybe even Egyptian or Babylonian gold. An ounce of gold could have had many lives, and formed into many different pieces of art. One might say that silver and gold are destined to someday be loot in some future war. Then melted down and reformed.
Not true for all art. Sculpture in mountains will not transport, but they can be destroyed. Cave art can be transferred to a different country or culture if the land is conquered.
But most sculptures and most paintings can be loot, stolen by temporary victors and then recovered by the final victors. Except… mostly they are not.
The movie “Monument Men” is a
about the Nazi theft of most of the private art in Europe. Hundreds, maybe thousands of individuals got rich selling and delivering art that was not theirs to sell. ll about the Nazi theft of most of the private art in Europe. Hundreds, maybe thousands of individuals got rich selling and delivering art that was not theirs to sell.
State or public museums can be affected, but in World War II it was the private collections of people that were conquered, particularly the Jewish collectors of Europe. The process was simple, first the government had to divide the population into distinct groups, then the rights of one group was lessened. Jews weren’t exactly people, so they could not own property. It wasn’t right to leave the property, or to reemburse, so the state simply seized all of the art.
Then the official property department sold the art to various Nazi leaders, Herman Goering in particular. After the war the selling continued even if the war did not. Dozens of sales meant the private collections went to hundreds of museums and other individuals through out the world.
I’ve known this for some time, but recently I became reacquainted with the art of the Cranach family, Lucas the Elder and Lucas the younger. It turns out that both of them were commissioned to paint some of my ancestors. They were mostly minor nobles but some were Electors of Brandenburg or Saxony. The Cranachs were hired to paint the leaders of the government.
Many Germany painters were collected by the wealthy in Europe, some were royalty, some were merchants and some were Jewish. Art has always appreciated over time, and it was a good investment.
So I have been reimagining some of the Cranachs work. There were several version of Adam and Eve that Lucas the Elder had painted. The one I choose to re-imagine was owned by the Simon Norton museum in Southern California. I just read today that a court had decided that the painting was not looted and that the museum could keep it, as it has for the last 50 years. The family that had owned it before Goering stole it, gets nothing.
Tribute to Lucas Cranach, the Elder, Wife of Martin LutherTribute to Lucas Cranach, the Elder, Portrait of a Young Woman
A Work Progressing 
Art as Loot
I’m going to rewatch Monument Men in the near future. I’ve been long aware that the history of that simple gold bracelet I bought my wife could be quite complex. It’s possible that the gold was freshly panned by someone in the Sierra Navada mountains, then melted into ingots, then squeezed and hammered into a bracelet which I bought. Not likely.
Instead, gold is so honored and so precious, that any gold we have today is likely to be joined by 100 year old gold, one thousand year old gold, and maybe even Egyptian or Babylonian gold. An ounce of gold could have had many lives, and formed into many different pieces of art. One might say that silver and gold are destined to someday be loot in some future war. Then melted down and reformed.
Instead, gold is so honored and so precious, that any gold we have today is likely to be joined by 100 year old gold, one thousand year old gold, and maybe even Egyptian or Babylonian gold. An ounce of gold could have had many lives, and formed into many different pieces of art. One might say that silver and gold are destined to someday be loot in some future war. Then melted down and reformed.
Not true for all art. Sculpture in mountains will not transport, but they can be destroyed. Cave art can be transferred to a different country or culture if the land is conquered.
But most sculptures and most paintings can be loot, stolen by temporary victors and then recovered by the final victors. Except… mostly they are not.
The movie “Monument Men” is a
about the Nazi theft of most of the private art in Europe. Hundreds, maybe thousands of individuals got rich selling and delivering art that was not theirs to sell. ll about the Nazi theft of most of the private art in Europe. Hundreds, maybe thousands of individuals got rich selling and delivering art that was not theirs to sell.
State or public museums can be affected, but in World War II it was the private collections of people that were conquered, particularly the Jewish collectors of Europe. The process was simple, first the government had to divide the population into distinct groups, then the rights of one group was lessened. Jews weren’t exactly people, so they could not own property. It wasn’t right to leave the property, or to reemburse, so the state simply seized all of the art.
Then the official property department sold the art to various Nazi leaders, Herman Goering in particular. After the war the selling continued even if the war did not. Dozens of sales meant the private collections went to hundreds of museums and other individuals through out the world.
I’ve known this for some time, but recently I became reacquainted with the art of the Cranach family, Lucas the Elder and Lucas the younger. It turns out that both of them were commissioned to paint some of my ancestors. They were mostly minor nobles but some were Electors of Brandenburg or Saxony. The Cranachs were hired to paint the leaders of the government.
Many Germany painters were collected by the wealthy in Europe, some were royalty, some were merchants and some were Jewish. Art has always appreciated over time, and it was a good investment.
So I have been reimagining some of the Cranachs work. There were several version of Adam and Eve that Lucas the Elder had painted. The one I choose to re-imagine was owned by the Simon Norton museum in Southern California. I just read today that a court had decided that the painting was not looted and that the museum could keep it, as it has for the last 50 years. The family that had owned it before Goering stole it, gets nothing.
Share this: