Gallery returns painting looted by Nazis
Gallery returns painting looted by Nazis
By Julie Mollins Sat Aug 19, 7:27 AM ET
Reuters Photo: Le Salon de Madame Aron by Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940). REUTERS/National Gallery of Canada handout TORONTO (Reuters) - A 20th-century French oil painting by Edouard Vuillard, looted by the Nazis during World War Two, will be returned to the family of its original owner, the National Gallery of Canada said on Friday. This is the first time a work stolen by the Nazis has been identified and returned to its rightful owners by the Ottawa gallery. "We are proud of the fact that we brought it up first and that the right result has been achieved," said Chief Curator David Franklin. The National Gallery first tried to return the painting in 1997 to the family of Alfred Lindon, a French businessman of Jewish descent who died in 1948, after a curator discovered it had been stolen by the Nazis in France. At the time, the family had no record of having owned the oil painting and refused its return. In 2003, the gallery received definitive proof of its ownership and Denis Lindon, another family member, began proceedings to reclaim the work on behalf of a group of heirs. The 1904 post-impressionist painting, entitled "Le Salon de Madame Aron," reworked by the artist in 1934, depicts a domestic interior. "Vuillard is regarded as a leading French artist," Franklin said. "He’s one of the giants of French art." The painting was purchased by the National Gallery in 1956 from an art dealer in Paris.
