Portrait Returned to Family After Missing Since WWII
- June 24, 2013 22:45
An oil portrait of Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, painted by Angelika Kauffmann in her Rome studio in 1789, has been reunited with its rightful heir 70 years since it went missing during World War II. The painting was commissioned by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and then was lost in Poland centuries later before its recent rediscovery.
Michael Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, the heir of the painting and a descendant of the grand ducal family, has resumed ownership and subsequently returned the portrait to the Weimar palace on permanent loan. An offical ceremony took place on June 24.
Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach is depicted with items that portray her as lover of the arts.
Her portrait emerged on the market in 2011 when a Polish collector brought it into Sotheby's for consignment. A check of an art loss database revealed the painting's provenance and status as missing.