An Old Master painting looted by the Nazis but then saved by the Monuments Men has raked in an impressive £436,000 at auction.
The early 18th century work by Nicolas de Largillierre, titled Portrait of a Woman, features an unknown woman with porcelain skin wrapped in a shimmering red and silver cape.
It had been valued at £60,000 but a tense bidding war at auctioneers Christie’s in Paris meant the undisclosed buyer ended up paying a staggering seven times this amount.
The painting had been initially taken by the Germans from a bank crate near Bordeaux in Nazi-occupied France in February 1941.
It was transported to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, which was the hiding place for more than 5,000 paintings and 20,000 objects stolen by the regime.
But towards the end of the war a group of British, American and French art experts, museum curators and librarians were assembled to find and recover Hitler’s stolen art before it could be destroyed.
Their work was immortalised in the 2014 film The Monuments Men starring George Clooney, Bill Murray and Matt Damon.
The real-life team arrived at the castle on April 28, 1945, and American soldier Anthony Valim rediscovered the painting before joyously lifting it up in a famous photograph.
The early 18th century work by Nicolas de Largillierre, titled Portrait of a Woman features an unknown woman with porcelain skin wrapped in a shimmering red and silver cape
The oil on canvas ‘half length’ painting was returned to its rightful owners, the wealthy Jewish banker de Rothschild family.
They kept hold of it until 1978, when it entered another private collection which it has remained in until the sale.
Ahead of the impending Nazi invasion of France, winemaker Baron Philippe de Rothschild, who owned the Château Mouton Rothschild vineyard near Bordeaux, packed up his artworks in crates and put them in storage to try and hide them from the enemy.
Rothschild was arrested by the Vichy government in 1940 and stripped of his French citizenship.
His assets were seized, with his crates of artworks found in a bank vault outside Bordeaux.
The auctioneers say that the painting was able to be returned to the Rothschilds after the war because of the efforts of an unsung hero French museum administrator, Rose Valland.
She worked at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris, which was being used by the Nazis to warehouse tens of thousands of looted artworks before they were sent on to Germany.
But unbeknownst to them, she was also part of the French Resistance and kept a note of the serial codes given to each painting so they could be returned to their original owners.
Fussen, Germany, 5/22/45: While a lieutenant checks his list in the background, 7th army soldiers carry three valuable paintings down the steps of Neuschwanstein Castle at Fussen, Germany, where they were a part of the collection looted by the Nazis from conquered countries. The paintings are, (L to R) “Cat and Mirror,” Charbin, 1749; a painting by Brouver, belonging to the Weissman Collection; and a portrait of a lady marked “Rothschild Collection 18th Century”
Born in Paris in 1656, de Largillierre was one of Europe’s leading portrait painters in the final decades of the 17th century and the initial decades of the 18th.
He spent much of his early career in England, as assistant to Sir Peter Lely, Principal Painter to King Charles II.
Olivia Ghosh, Christie’s head of sale, said: ‘He executed this painting in around 1700, after his permanent return to France.
‘It depicts a now unknown woman from the aristocracy or haute bourgeoisie.
‘Boasting porcelain skin and wrapped in a shimmering red and silver cape, she is elegantly integrated into an outdoor setting, with some trees on the left and a rock face on the right.
‘The picture showcases many of the gifts for which Largillierre is renowned, including sumptuous surfaces and gorgeous colours.
‘Aware of the antisemitic measures being adopted by the Nazis in Germany, and also the threat posed by Hitler’s expansionist foreign policy, Baron Phillipe de Rothschild packed up his artworks in crates and put them into storage.
‘His crates were found in a bank vault outside Bordeaux and removed to the Jeu de Paume in February 1941.
Matt Damon and George Clooney in The Monuments Men – 2014. The work of the British, American and French art experts was immortalised in the film
‘The painting was transferred along with the rest of Rothschild’s collection to Neuschwanstein Castle in south-east Germany.
‘The Nazis had no idea that Valland, the quiet, bespectacled employee at the Jeu de Paume, was eavesdropping on their conversations and taking secret notes on the destinations of train and truck shipments.
‘Each work was given an inventory number, and Valland also recorded these – in the case of Portrait d’une femme, à mi-corps, ‘R437’, a number still marked on the stretcher of the canvas.
‘When Paris was liberated in 1944, Valland shared her information with Lieutenant James Rorimer, one of some 350 members of the Allied forces’ Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives programme.
‘Colloquially known as the “Monuments Men”, these were museum curators, art historians, architects, artists and librarians tasked with finding and protecting as many looted items as possible.
‘In the war’s final days, he and a small number of troops at his disposal found the vast trove that Valland had told him about.
‘In the nick of time, too, before the Germans had had the chance to move the items on again, or worse, destroy them.
‘The Largillierre portrait was returned to Paris in November 1945, before being officially restituted to the Rothschild family six months later.
‘It remained in their collection until 1978, when it was acquired by the vendor.
‘There are some works of art whose importance goes beyond their mere aesthetic quality because of the place they hold in a wider history.
‘The present painting by Nicolas de Largillierre is one such work.’