Lost Rubens sketches return to German castle after 80 years
Two oil studies illicitly sold by representatives of the ducal family after the Second World War have recently been recovered by the Ducal Museum at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha
Five oil sketches by Peter Paul Rubens are set to be displayed together at the Ducal Museum in Gotha, Germany, for the first time in 80 years. These sketches, depicting saints, were originally part of a collection of 22 wood-cut illustrations created by the artist in 1620 and 1621 for the ceiling paintings of the Jesuit church in Antwerp, a significant commission at the time.
The sketches hold immense importance as the ceiling paintings, once renowned, are no longer present due to a fire in 1718. They were among the most valuable assets in the Schloss Friedenstein collections in Gotha, where they had been since the early 19th century, with one sketch having resided there for three centuries. However, by the end of World War II, all five had vanished.
Three were seized by representatives of the ducal family, who had taken ownership since 1918. They were hidden away during the final weeks of the war as American and Soviet forces neared Gotha. Three sketches were transported to Coburg for safety, and subsequently, illicitly sold to the US art market. The remaining two were looted by the Red Army and were returned to Gotha in 1959.
In 2024, one of the sold sketches, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, was returned to Gotha through a museum in Buffalo, New York, with the assistance of Christie's. Now, a fourth sketch, The Prophet Elijah in the Golden Chariot, which had ended up in a private US collection, has been recovered through a private settlement mediated by the Paris auction house Cabinet Turquin.
The recovery was financed by the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation, which often acquires art for German museums. Martin Hoernes, the secretary general of the foundation, revealed that a "figure in the low millions" was agreed upon, below the market price. "No one wanted to criminalize the current owners," he explained, describing their acquisition as a "good-faith purchase".
The fifth sketch, portraying St. Augustine, is held by the E. G. Bührle Collection, on display at the Kunsthaus Zurich. This foundation has agreed to loan the sketch to Gotha's Ducal Museum for an exhibition marking the 450th anniversary of Rubens' birth next year. Tobias Pfeifer-Helke, the director of the Friedenstein Foundation Gotha, expressed his amazement at the reunion of these five oil studies at the Ducal Museum.
"They are not only five unique masterpieces by the Flemish painter and the jewels of the Gotha art collection, but also bear witness to European and international history."
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