Signature
nicht bezeichnet
Inscriptions
unbekannt, derzeit keine Möglichkeit an Hinter- oder Unterseite zu gelangen
Provenance
- Meister des Churwaldener Altars (Künstler/-in)
- Verbleib unbekannt
- spätestens ab 1951 – 1954, Benno Griebert (*1909 Berlin-Lichterfelde, +2000) (Kunsthändler/-in), MeersburgZKG/KHZ Inventarbogen/Werkdossier: Eingang 1951 sowie Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, Jahresbericht 1954, S. 7, Ankäufe: «Alle drei Leihgaben seit 1951».
- ab 1954, Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft | Kunsthaus Zürich (Museum), Zürich, Kauf, 40'000 CHFWie oben Fussnote 3.
Provenance category
indications of being looted art
Provenance category (FOC)
C – The provenance from 1933 to 1945 has not been conclusively clarified; gaps in the ownership history remain. According to current research, there is no evidence of Nazi-looted art. There are, however, implications of Nazi-looted art and / or conspicuous circumstances.
Literature (provenance)
- Jahresbericht 1954, hrsg. von Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, Zürich, 1955, S. 7.
About the provenance
The wooden figure of the Madonna and Child was purchased in 1954 from Benno Griebert of Meersburg, from whom it had been on loan at the Kunsthaus since 1951. The art historian and dealer Benno Griebert had made his name as a dealer in late-Gothic objects through the exhibition «Madonnas on Lake Constance» in 1950 at Schloss Meersburg. Prior to 1945, he had acted as advisor to an organization involved in seizing cultural property in the occupied areas. Essentially, it is difficult to identify medieval wooden figures and their previous owners, especially when, as here, the information about the artist changed and the titles are broadly descriptive. No concrete indications that the figure was confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution have been found, but Griebert’s involvement in Nazi looting gives grounds for suspicion. As the research currently stands, it is not possible to state conclusively whether the work constitutes Nazi-looted art. At present, all the known sources have been exhausted.
State of research 30.09.2024
Do you have questions, criticism, suggestions, and further information? Please send us a message to provenienzforschung(at)kunsthaus.ch.
Literature (general)
- Die Meisterwerke, hrsg. von Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft/Christian Klemm, Sammlungskatalog Kunsthaus Zürich, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2007, S. 17 (ill.).
- Reformation, hrsg. von Andreas Rüfenacht/Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft/Kunsthaus Zürich, Ausst.-Kat. Kunsthaus Zürich, 2017, No. 15.
- Kunsthaus Zürich. Gesamtkatalog der Gemälde und Skulpturen, hrsg. von Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft et al., Sammlungskatalog, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2007, S. 22.
- Albrecht Miller: «Die Meister des Churwaldener Altars», in: Astrid von Beckerath (Hrsg.): Spätgotische Flügelaltäre in Graubünden und im Fürstentum Liechtenstein, Chur: Verlag Bündner Monatsblatt, 1998, S. 137-147, S. 137-147; S. 138 f..
on display