Federal Arts Administration returns Nazi-looted work of art
Ilse Hesselberger acquired the painting in 1927. Provenance research suggests it is highly probably that she was forced to sell the painting in 1937 or 1938 as a result of persecution in connection with the systematic disenfranchisement perpetrated under the National Socialist tyranny. Ilse Hesselberger was deported to Kaunas in Lithuania by the Nazi regime on 20 November 1941 and murdered there five days after her arrival. In 1941, the work was purchased by the Reich Chancellery for the “Führermuseum” planned by Hitler in Linz. According to Hitler's plan, Linz was to become a cultural metropolis with a monumental Nazi art complex. Under the so-called Special Commission Linz, the Nazi regime collected thousands of exhibits for this museum by means of confiscations and purchases.
After the end of the Second World War, the Allies took possession of the art collection, moved it to the Munich Central Collecting Point and began restitution of the works. The works of art for which no origin could be determined or no beneficiaries could be found were later initially transferred to the Bavarian state premier. The holdings that remain after further restitutions are now administered by the KVdB.