Family to be reunited with Nazi-looted artwork after eight decades

The heirs and great-grandchildren of Jewish Belgian art collector Samuel Hartveld are set to be reunited with a painting that was looted by the Nazis when he fled his home city of Antwerp during the Second World War in May 1940. 

When Hartveld and his wife left the city, the couple were forced to leave behind their most treasured possessions including a painting by Henry Gibbs, titled ‘Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Burning Troy'. The painting is said to have been one of 66 paintings in a gallery owned by Hartveld in Antwerp. 

The narrative painting is believed to be a commentary on the English Civil War, which resulted in exile for many. The painting depicts scenes from ‘The Aeneid' which is 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 painting depicts the Trojan hero, Aeneas, trying to rescue his family from the burning city.

After surviving the war, Hartveld was never reunited with his collection of paintings, as a majority of the works were looted and sold by the German authorities with Hartveld and his family receiving none of the proceeds. Some of his artworks may have changed hands several times since 1940 and are believed to be in galleries across Europe. The painting by Henry Gibbs was eventually purchased from Galerie Jan de Maere in Brussels in 1994 by the Tate collection.

The independent Spoliation Advisory Panel was established by the government in 2000 to consider claims from anyone, or their heirs, who lost cultural property during the Nazi era, where such an object is now in a UK public collection. Over the last 25 years, the panel has received 23 claims, with 14 works being returned to the heirs of their former owners. 

Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: 

“The case of Samuel Hartveld is the perfect example of the Spoliation Advisory Panel doing the work it was designed to do - 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.” 

Director of Tate Maria Balshaw 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.”

The trustees of the Sonia Klein Trust said:

“The trustees acting for the Sonia Klein Trust and their counsel, Dr. Hannes Hartung, based in Munich, are deeply grateful to the Spoliation Advisory Panel for their recommendation that Tate Britain restitute the narrative painting of Henry Gibbs' ‘Aeneas and his family fleeing from burning Troy' and parliament's ratification of that recommendation. 

“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. 

“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 staff at Tate Britain were open minded and prompt in their approval of the Spoliation Advisory Panel's recommendation.

“Further, the trustees wish to acknowledge the scholarly efforts of Geert Sels, author of ‘Kunst voor das Reich', in identifying the plight of Samuel Hartveld and his family because of Nazi persecution in Belgium during World War II. With this restitution, the trustees acting for the Sonia Klein Trust honour and remember the life of Samuel Hartveld and his family.”

The Spoliation Advisory Panel received a claim from trustees acting for the Sonia Klein Trust, established for Mr. Hartveld's heirs, requesting the return of a painting by Henry Gibbs in May 2024. Following extensive research by the Trust's legal representatives and others into how the family had come to lose the painting, it was identified as being in the Tate's collection.

The Spoliation Advisory Panel then considered all the evidence and decided that the legal and moral claims to the restitution of the painting were sufficiently compelling for them to advise the Secretary of State that the Sonia Klein Trust is entitled to its return.

The Government welcomes Tate's full cooperation with this process throughout and its prompt agreement to accept the Panel's recommendation in full. 

ENDS

Notes to editors

The Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009 allows national museums to return cultural objects, where the Spoliation Advisory Panel recommends and the Arts Minister agrees.  

The Spoliation Advisory Panel, together with the equivalent committees in France, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands is a member of the Network of European Restitution Committees on Nazi-Looted Art. The Network promotes international collaboration and information sharing on these issues.