The procedure

In response to the application for restitution, the Restitutions Committee instituted a fact-finding investigation, the results of which were summarised in a draft report dated 11 June 2007 and submitted to the applicant in a letter dated 13 July 2007. The applicant was also requested to supply supporting documents. The applicant’s response, including the requested information, was received on 1 August 2007 and the report was subsequently adopted on 1 October 2007. For the facts of the case, the Committee refers to its investigatory report, which is considered an integral part of this recommendation.

Special considerations

1. The applicant, in his capacity as heir of Anna Emilie Jaffé-Gluge (hereafter referred to as Anna Jaffé), requests the restitution of the 17th-century painting Unloading the hay wagon by Isaac van Ostade. The applicant has stated to be acting on behalf of the other heirs. Anna Jaffé was married to Joseph John Jaffé (hereafter referred to as John Jaffé), who died on 6 May 1934. Anna Jaffé passed away in March 1942, having listed four family members as her heirs, including her nephew G.C. The applicant has stated that he is his grandson.
2. The investigation has revealed the following. John Jaffé and his wife were both Jewish. They were British subjects but lived in Nice, France, at Villa Jaffé, where the couple owned a substantial art collection. Based on the investigation, the committee has found sufficient proof to conclude that the claimed painting NK 1861 was part of the Jaffé collection. The third volume of the standard work Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten Holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts [Descriptive and critical index of the works of the most outstanding Dutch painters of the 17th century] by Dr C. Hofstede de Groot, published in 1910, cites John Jaffé as last owner of a panel by I. van Ostade. In the committee’s opinion, the description of the panel is convincingly similar to the claimed work NK 1861. In addition, the applicant has stated that various family members who visited Villa Jaffé between 1935 and 1938 recognised the image of NK 1861 on the BHG website as formerly belonging to the Jaffés.
3. During the Second World War, Nice was governed by the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis. Anna Jaffé died in March 1942. In October 1942, the Commissariat General aux Affaires Juives [State Commission for Jewish Affairs] appointed an administrator to administer her estate. Against the wishes of the heirs, the authorities auctioned Jaffé’s art collection in Nice on 12 and 13 July 1943. The committee deems it plausible that the claimed work of art NK 1861 was also auctioned. As proof thereof and at the request of the committee, the applicant has supplied a copy of the illustrated auction catalogue that contains a picture corresponding to the claimed work of art NK 1861. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that an investigation into the photograph collection of the Netherlands Institute for Art History showed that the genre of Isaac van Ostade does include farming scenes but that a painting of a loaded hay wagon is relatively unique. Therefore, the committee considers it very likely that the claimed work NK 1861 was part of the auctioned estate of the Mr and Mrs Jaffé.
4. Furthermore, several documents show that the painting was bought at the auction by a certain Madame Bonfils, of whom no other information is known to exist, and was subsequently bought from an art dealer in Paris in September 1943 by W.A. Hofer for Göring’s collection.
5. After the war, the painting was mistakenly recovered to the Netherlands from Munich. Presumably, the Netherlands Art Property Foundation concluded that the work came from an art dealer in Amsterdam due to a statement by Hofer issued after the war. The internal SNK report pertaining to NK 1861 states that the work originally belonged to an art dealership in Amsterdam. The committee considers it likely that the statement by Hofer was erroneous and therefore that the information on the provenance of the painting in the SNK’s archive was also incorrect. As far as is known, there have been no applications for the restitution of NK 1861 since the end of the war.
6. Pursuant to current government policy regarding the restitution of items of cultural value, restitution can be recommended only if it is highly probable that the claimed object was originally the property of Anna Jaffé and if the work of art was relinquished involuntarily due to circumstances directly related to the Nazi regime.
7. On the basis of the abovementioned investigation, the committee concludes that both conditions for restitution have been met. The committee is of the opinion that there is sufficient evidence to presume that the work of art NK 1861 belonged to Anna Jaffé until her death in March 1942 and after that was auctioned by the French authorities in Nice in collaboration with the Nazis without the heirs’ consent. This proves that it was indeed a case of involuntary loss of possession. As there is no question of this case having been settled in the past, there are no grounds for not allowing the restitution application.