A late 18th-century Venetian regatta scene by Vincenzo Chilone once owned by the Jewish collectors John and Anna Jaffé is due to be auctioned at Christie’s in December following the resolution of a dispute going back more than 70 years. The painting was seized by pro-Nazi authorities along with 200 other works in the Jaffé collection after Anna Jaffé died in the south of France in 1942. With the encouragement of the Nazi art dealer Karl Haberstock, the entire collection was sold the following year at the Hotel du Savoy in Nice.
Now conservatively valued at £60,000, A Regatta on the Grand Canal was at the time attributed to Bernardo Bellotto, a pupil of Canaletto. It last appeared on the open market in 1985 at Sotheby’s London where it was bought in good faith by an Italian collector, who was later notified of the historic claim on the work. After several months of negotiations brokered by Art Recovery Group, a resolution was reached with the Jaffé heirs, led by Anna Jaffé’s great-great nephew Alain Monteagle.
Chris Marinello, the founder and chief executive of Art Recovery Group, says an agreement was reached relatively quickly. “The Italian collector bought the work in 1985 before the Washington Principles of 1998 [drawn up to help return art stolen by the Nazis],” Marinello says. “It was a different world back then in terms of doing due diligence, but there was still some liability there.”
Marinello says he hopes the result will encourage greater recognition of Nazi-era claims. “A third of people we contact raising issues with works say they are going to sell anyway,” he says. “It is often painful for heirs to come forward, but this case proves that restitution can happen even 75 years later.”
Monteagle, who has actively sought the return of other works from the Jaffé collection, says he continues to look for looted works to deter others: “If we do nothing then what deterrent does that give for the art looters in many places in the world today? Why would they stop? Or even museums or dealers—why would they care that there are still blood stains on the paintings they buy?”