[attach id=312054 size="medium" align="left"]A self-portrait of German painter Otto Dix was one of the artworks found in the Munich house of art hoarder Cornelius Gurlitt last November. Photo: Michael Dalder/Reuters[/attach]
As George Clooney took London’s Leicester Square by storm on Tuesday evening for the premiere of his new film about Nazi-looted art The Monuments Men, Austrian media reported that an elderly German recluse who had a spectacular trove of Nazi-looted artworks hidden in his Munich flat kept a further 60 paintings in his home in Salzburg.
The Salzburg haul includes works by artists such as Monet, Renoir and Picasso, the Austria Press Agency (APA) said quoting a spokesman for Cornelius Gurlitt, whose father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, dealt in “degenerate” art confiscated by Nazi Germany.
Ever since the discovery of more than 1,400 works with a total estimated value of €1 billion in Gurlitt’s Munich flat, speculation had swirled that he may have a further stash of artworks stored elsewhere.
APA said Gurlitt’s attorney, Christoph Edel, had ordered the works at his Salzburg home to be secured to guard them from theft. At Gurlitt’s request, they had also been checked by experts to see if they might have been looted by Nazi Germany.
“Initial estimates based on a first review did not harden such a suspicion,” it quoted him as saying.
The German authorities’ discovery of the hoarded artworks in Munich in early 2012 caused a sensation when first revealed by a magazine only three months ago. The art world was stunned by the re-emergence of paintings by some of the 20th century’s most famous artists that were long thought to have been lost or destroyed during World War II.
Gurlitt had moved freely to sell pieces from his collection
The German government’s handling of the find – which emerged during a routine investigation for suspected tax fraud – was severely criticised by groups representing owners of works that were seized by the Nazi German regime.
Germany kept silent for almost two years about the discovery and failed to publish a full list of the artworks – some of which were believed to have been plundered or extorted by the Nazis. The works found in Munich have been confiscated while their provenance is examined.
A court has since ruled Germany must publish a full list.
Gurlitt had moved freely for decades between Germany, Austria and Switzerland to sell pieces from his collection.
The legal status of many of Gurlitt’s works is ambiguous, nearly 70 years after a war in which the Nazis pillaged hundreds of thousands of art treasures from museums and from individuals, most of them Jews.
The Monuments Men, written, directed and starring Clooney, is inspired by the true story of a team of soldiers on a mission to rescue valuable artwork stolen by the Nazis during the invasion of Europe.
Gurlitt has demanded his art back and lawyers working on reclaiming property for heirs to Jewish collectors say he may get to keep at least some of it.