Two Nazi-stolen Dutch Old Master paintings have been returned to the Max and Iris Stern Foundation, which has Concordia and McGill universities among its beneficiaries.
The paintings once belonged to Max Stern, a Jewish art dealer who was forced by Nazis to sell his collection during the Second World War. Stern moved to Montreal after surviving the war.
The Stern foundation had learned that Ships in Distress from a Stormy Sea had been consigned in a German city, thanks to an anonymous tip from within the art trade, Concordia University announced on Monday. The company had “amicable discussions” with representatives from the Holocaust Claims Processing Office and the art was returned.
Another painting, Landscape with Goats, dated 1664, was consigned by a German collector in Hamburg. News of the sale was flagged and the work was returned.
Both paintings had been listed on different international databases that track stolen art.
The paintings are the 14th and 15th recovered from Stern’s collection since the Max Stern Art Restitution Project was launched in 2002 by Concordia, McGill and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Stern, who died in 1987, was forced to sell the paintings by the Nazi Regime during the Second World War. Stern lived in Düsseldorf, Germany at the time, but moved to Canada afterward. Once settled, he opened the Dominion Gallery in Montreal.
Stern had begun looking for the hundreds of paintings he was forced to sell before dying in 1987. He didn’t have children, so the three universities were named as his heirs. It’s estimated more than 400 other paintings could still be recovered.
