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Dutch review art collection for possible Nazi plunder

CHARLOTTE VAN CAMPENHOUT

AMSTERDAM — For at least two decades, a painting of fishing boats under an overcast sky hung on the wall of the Dutch parliament, admired by lawmakers who gave little thought to its origins.

Now, experts are looking at whether the 19th-century masterpiece by Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Fishing Boats off the Coast, may be Nazi-looted art.

It is part of a new review of art in Dutch museums and public places, after earlier pushes to return stolen pieces to heirs by a governmentbacked Restitutions Committee, which has overseen reviews of dozens of artworks since 2001.

The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, tasked with the protection and conservation of art objects that were returned from Germany to the Netherlands after the Second World War, is applying a wider definition of looted art as it seeks to return more property taken mostly from Jewish families.

“There is no free will if a family had to sell something to be able to flee to a safe country,” spokesperson Dolf Muller said.

Over four years, the agency’s research team will investigate 3,500 objects, 1,700 of which are paintings.

“The investigation isn’t easy,” said senior advisor Perry Schrier, likening the work to 80-year-old cold cases.

The Mesdag painting was sold by an unknown seller through an auction house in The Hague in 1941, a year after Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands.

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2022-07-05T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-05T07:00:00.0000000Z

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