The Tate recently announced it will return a painting by Henry Gibbs to the heirs of a Jewish Belgian art collector after initial claims it had been looted by Nazis.
The painting being returned is by the Canterbury artist is Aeneas and his family fleeing Burning Troy (1654), a work initially purchased by Tate from Galerie Jan de Maere, Brussels in 1994.
The Spoliation Advisory Panel resolves claims from people, or their heirs, who lost possession of cultural property during the Nazi era, now held in national collections in the UK.
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A press release from the Tate said that the Spoliation Advisory Panel received a claim in May 2024 from the heirs of art collector Samuel Hartveld, through trustees acting for the Sonia Klein Trust, requesting the return of the painting by Gibbs.
“The Spoliation Advisory Panel considered all the evidence and decided that the legal and moral claims to the restitution of the painting were sufficiently compelling for them to advise the Secretary of State that the Sonia Klein Trust is entitled to its return.”
Tate Director Maria Balshaw said in a statement that the provenance of Aeneas and his family fleeing Burning Troy was “extensively investigated” when the institution acquired it in 1994, but “crucial facts concerning previous ownership of the painting were not known.”
The trustees of the Sonia Klein Trust called the staff at Tate Britain “open minded and prompt” in their approval of the Spoilation Advisory Panel’s recommendation to return the painting. The trustees also acknowledged the scholarly efforts of Geert Sels, author of ‘Kunst voor das Reich’ in identifying the plight of Samuel Hartveld and his family because of Nazi persecution in Belgium during World War II.
The news was first reported by The Art Newsapaper.
