National Gallery returns drawing to heir of Holocaust victim
WASHINGTON — The National Gallery of Art has returned a 200-year-old drawing to the heirs of an Austrian woman who had to sell it during World War II and later died in the Holocaust.
“A Branch with Shriveled Leaves” by the German artist Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld had been owned by the artist’s descendants until Marianne Schmidl sold it under duress in 1939. Although Schmidl was a Christian, her father was born Jewish and she was declared Jewish by the Nazis after they annexed Austria. Her family last heard from her in 1942 after she was deported to a holding point for a concentration camp in Poland, and she was declared dead in 1950.
Over the last few years, museums have returned roughly 15 pieces of art to Schmidl’s heirs, said her grand-nephew Johann Schiller, who represents the family in negotiations over its lost artwork. The exquisite drawing of decaying leaves was one of the most important works the family has reclaimed, Schiller told The Associated Press.
“My mother would sometimes say, ‘I wonder where the shriveled leaves are,’” he said.