Artworks stolen in Nazi-occupied Paris donated to the Louvre

RFI

10 June 2024 at 5:28 am·2-min read

Eighty years after they were looted from a Jewish family during the Nazi Occupation of France, two 17th-century still-life paintings have been returned to the heirs of their rightful owners – who have donated them to the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The two paintings, "Still Life with Ham" by Dutch artist Floris van Schooten and "Food, Fruit and Glass on a Table" by Peter Binoit of Germany, are now displayed alongside historical documents giving information on the Javals – the family that owned them until 1944.

The works are believed to have been looted that year from the family's mansion in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, according to the French Ministry of Culture, which helped trace the rightful owners.

Five members of the family were deported and murdered at the Auschwitz death camp, while others fought in the Resistance or went into hiding.

Their living beneficiaries were finally identified last year thanks to the efforts of researchers at the culture ministry, the French national archives and CIVS, the commission responsible for examining reparation claims from victims of France's antisemitic wartime laws.

The heirs handed the works over to the Louvre in a ceremony last Tuesday, attended by 48 of the Javals' descendants.

The new display "testifies to a rich and interesting group of people" who had very different destinies, she said.

The museum's director, Laurence des Cars, told French news agency AFP it was a "call to never forget, a commitment to transmitting memory and a constant call to action".