Provenance Research

The Belvedere's provenance research team examines all works of art created before 1945 and acquired since 1933. The collection, which includes roughly 5,400 paintings, sculptures, and graphic works, is processed through the museum's in-house database, which provides an object-related overview of archive and literature searches. The reviewed works are categorized as follows: “uncritical,” “questionable,” “unresolved – no indication of questionability,” and “unresolved.”

Sections of the database which contain sensitive data are reserved exclusively for in-house provenance research and are not accessible to the public.

Nachlass, Aktenordner auf einem Tisch
© Belvedere, Wien
Provenance Dossiers

The provenance dossiers drawn up by the Belvedere are sent to the Commission for Provenance Research in the Federal Monuments Office and from there to the Art Restitution Committee in the Federal Chancellery, which issues recommendations regarding the restitution of works of art.

Of the 79 dossiers drawn up as of April 2019, 74 have been dealt with by the Art Restitution Committee. It recommended restitution in 44 cases concerning 69 works of art and 6 publications. 55 of these works have been handed back to the descendants of the former owners. The remainder will remain in the museum until the rightful heirs can be identified.

In 15 cases involving 28 works of art, the Committee advised against restitution. Among these were the 5 Klimt pictures from the Bloch-Bauer collection, which have subsequently been restituted, and also Edvard Munch’s Summer Night at the Beach from the Mahler-Werfel collection. In this latter case, the Committee reversed its negative decision of 1999 and on November 8, 2006 recommended that it be restituted to the heiress, to whom the painting was returned on May 9, 2007. The Comitee meeting on March 6, 2015 could not recommend the restitution of the Beethovenfries by Gustav Klimt from the Lederer collection.

The Art Restitution Committee is currently working on five dossiers involving nine works of art.

Proveneance Database

 

 

Categories

"Uncritical" indicates that the chronology of ownership can be traced end-to-end. Even if the work of art had been confiscated from Jewish property between 1938 and 1945, it was returned to its original owners after the war and properly acquired by the Belvedere.

"Questionable" is the term used by the Belvedere provenance research team to describe acquisitions as defined in § 1 of the Art Restitution Act. This article refers to works of art which

  1. were subject to restitution to either the original owners or their legal successors, but could not be exported under the Export Prohibition Act of 1919 and subsequently passed gratuitously into the ownership of the Federation.

  2. although lawfully transferred into the ownership of the Federation, had previously been the subject of a legal transaction within the scope of the Annulment Act from 1946 and are still in possession of the Federation.

  3. had not been returned to their original owner or their legal successors after conclusions of restitution proceedings and therefore are still held by the Federation as “property without heirs.”

The category "unresolved – no indication of questionability" refers to art objects which can be plausibly assumed to have been acquired lawfully and do not originate from expropriated Jewish property, though a potential confiscation could not be ruled out with absolute certainty.

"Unresolved" indicates that the artwork in question currently lacks sufficient information to determine its provenance. There are no indications that the work is questionable, and no evidence that it is uncritical. This applies especially to acquisitions from the art trade from the years 1938 to 1945 and the post-war era.

 

Restitutions

 

 

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2018

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To the heirs of Alice und Carl Bach:
Schirmer, Johann Wilhelm: Landscape Study, Inv. No. 3972

 

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2015

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To the heirs of Martha Liebermann:
Leibl, Wilhelm: Bauernküche /Kücheninterieur, Inv. No. 3388

 

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2013

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To the heirs of Rudolf Bittmann:
Daffinger, Moritz: Marie Daffinger, née Smolk von Smolenitz, the Artist´s Wife, Inv. No. 4254

To the heirs of Josef Blauhorn:
Kupelwieser, Leopold: The Three Magi, Inv. No. 3768
Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Ludwig Ferdinand: Chamonix with Mont Blanc, Inv. No. 3769

To the heirs of Valerie Karplus:
Makart, Hans: Entry of Charles V. in Antwerp, Inv. No. 4453
The painting was re-acquired by the Austrian Gallery Belvedere and re-catalogued.

To the heirs of Alice und Hans Rubinstein:
Romako, Anton: Portrait Berthold Winder, Inv. No. 3802

To the heirs of Friedrich Spiegler:
Master of The Veit Legend: Winged altarpiece, Inv. No. 4851
The panel painting was re-acquired by the Austrian Gallery Belvedere and re-catalogued.

 

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2012

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To the heirs of August Blumberg:
Zanusi, Jakob: Apotheosis of Holy Kajetan, Inv. No. 3902

To the heirs of Dr. Hermann Eissler:
Waldmüller, Ferdinand Georg: 4 Signboards for an apothecary: Hygieia, Hippokrates, Galen, Flora, Inv. No. 5621-5624

 

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2011

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To the heirs of Dr. Ludwig Neurath:
Alt, Jakob: The Cholera Chapel near Baden, Inv. No. 3662

To the heirs of Max Mandl-Maldenau:
Krafft, Johann Peter: Portrait of a Man, Inv. No. 3400

To the heirs of Josefine Winter:
Hellmer, Edmund: Beethoven-Büste, Inv. No. 5956

 

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2010

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To the heirs of Mary Wooster:
Raffalt, Johann Gualbert: Hungarian Herdsboy, Inv. No. 4342

To the heirs of Alice Kolb:
Danhauser, Josef: Ladislaus Pyrker, Inv. No. 4030

To the heirs of Marianne Nechansky:
Hans Gasser: Der Maler Carl Rahl, Inv. No. 5958

 

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2009

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To the heirs of Alice and Carl Bach:
Trübner, Wilhelm: Still Life with Roses, Inv. No. 3666

To the heirs of  Wilhelm Freund:
Feuerbach, Anselm: Medea on the Urn, Inv. No. 3704
Romako, Anton: Hungarian Barnyard, Inv. No. 3683

To the heirs of Max Roden (Rosenzweig):
Franz Wiegele, Frauenbildnis (Portrait Frau Z.), Inv. No. 3401

 

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2008

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To the heirs of Franz und Helen Erlach:
Master of Großlobming: Pfennigberger Schmerzensmann, Inv. No. 6153

To the heirs of Otto Klein:
Daffinger, Moritz Michael: The Actor Josef Koberwein as Duke Alfons in Goethe's Tasso, Inv. No. 4319

To the heirs of Ernst Gotthilf-Miskolzy:
Friedrich Amerling: Mädchen mit Strohhut, Inv. No. 3657

 

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2007

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To the heirs of Mahler-Werfel:
Munch, Edvard: Sommernacht am Strand, Inv. No. 3772 

To the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer:
Georges Minne: Kniende Knaben, Inv. No. 3869, 3870

 

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2006

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To the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer:
Gustav Klimt, Beech Forest / Birch Forest, 1903, Inv. No. 4283
Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907, Inv. No. 3830
Gustav Klimt, Apple Tree I, 1911/12, Inv. No. 3342
Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 1912, Inv. No. 4210
Gustav Klimt, Houses in Unterach am Lake Attersee, around 1916, Inv. No. 4209

To the heirs of Dr. Heinrich Rieger:
Egon Schiele, Meadows with Houses, Inv. No. 4326

 

 

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2004

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To the heirs of Bernhard Altmann:
Klimt, Gustav: Portrait of a Lady, Inv. No. 5449

To the heirs of Gottlieb Kraus:
Markó, Carl:  Sea piece with Ino and Melicerte, Inv. No. 5606
Pettenkofen, August von: Gypsy Wagon at a Ford, Inv. No. 3886

To the heirs of Leo und Elise Smoschewer:
Slevogt, Max: Conrad Ansorge at the Piano, Inv. No. 3794

 

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2003

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To the heirs of Moriz und Otto Eisler:
Romako, Anton: Portrait of Countess Maria Magda Kuefstein, Inv. No. 3803

 

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2001

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To the heirs of Hermine Lasus:
Klimt, Gustav: Farmhouse with Birch Trees, Inv. No. 5448
Klimt, Gustav: Lady with Feather Boa, Inv. No. 4415

To the heirs of Jenny Steiner:
Klimt, Gustav: Country House on Lake Attersee, Inv. No. 8983

To the heirs of Nora Stiasny:
Klimt, Gustav: The Apple Tree II, Inv. No. 5447

 

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1999

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To the heirs of Clarice (Alphonse) Rothschild:
Auerbach, Johann Gottfried: Portrait of Empress Maria Theresa, Inv. No. 4259
Auerbach, Johann Gottfried: Portrait of Emperor Franz I Stephan von Lothringen, Inv. No. 4314
Donner, Matthäus: Venus and Adonis, Inv. No. 4261
Austrian painter circa 1770/80: Portrait of Emperor Joseph II, Inv. No. 4258
Pettenkofen, August von: Straw-loaded Wagon with Three Horses, Inv. No. 4553
Mollinarolo, Jakob Gabriel: Venus and the Dead Adonis, Inv. No. 5856
Mollinarolo, Jakob Gabriel: Venus and Adonis, Inv. No. 5857
The last two listed Baroque lead reliefs by Mollinarolo were re-acquired by the Austrian Gallery Belvedere and re-catalogued.

To the heirs of Louis N. Rothschild:
Amerling, Friedrich von: The Engraver Franz Xaver Stöber, Inv. No. 4262
Amerling, Friedrich von: Study of a Woman's Head, Inv. No. 4263
Schindler, Emil Jakob: Landscape with Water, Inv. No. 4267
Unterberger, Michelangelo (signed 1947 Troger): The Baptism of Christ, Inv. No. 4260

 

Inhalt 3

Inhalt 4

 

Restitutions recommended by the Art Restitution Advisory Board but not yet undertaken

Publications of the library to the heirs of Dr. Max Berger, Dr. Erich Arthur Bien und Dr. Eugen Herz.

To the heirs of Gertrude Felsövanyi:
Waldmüller, Ferdinand Georg: Bildnis Magdalena Werner, Inv.-Nr. 3660
Waldmüller, Ferdinand Georg: Bildnis Johann Werner, Inv.-Nr. 3661

To the heirs of Vally Honig-Roeren:
Waldmüller, Portrait of a Gentleman Dressed in Black, Inv. No. 3899

To the heirs of Wally Kulka:
Raffalt, Johann Gualbert: Two Hungarians with Two Horses in Puszta, Inv. No. 5596

To the heirs of Felicia Lachmann-Mosse:

Schindler, Emil Jakob: Park Landscape in Plankenberg (Lilac), Inv. No. 3815

To the heirs of Serena Lederer/Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt:
Grützner, Eduard: In der Klosterbibliothek, Inv. No. 7983

To the heirs of Ella Lewenz:
Leistikow, Walter: Danish Parkland with Mansion, Inv. No. 3971

To the heirs of Ludwig Mayer:
Grützner, Eduard: Allegory of Arts (4 parts of a ceiling painting), Inv. No. 7986-7989

To the heirs of Salomon Meisels:
Ruben, Christoph Christian: Blick in die Ferne, Inv. No. 4654

To the heirs of E. and A. Silbermann:
Maulbertsch, Franz Anton: Allegory On Galicia And Lodomeria, Inv. No. 3402