SPK restitutes a statuette to the heirs of Charlotte Prybram-Gladona
News from 02/23/2026
The Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz has restituted the sculpture of a "Christ at the Column" from the collection of the journalist and publisher Albin von Prybram-Gladona. The provenance of the work was discovered as part of systematic provenance research into the acquisitions of the sculpture collection between 1933 and 1945.
Although Albin von Prybram-Gladona's parents, who came from Jewish families, had already converted to the Protestant faith or Catholicism before their marriage, von Prybram-Gladona was persecuted on racial and religious grounds after the seizure of power. In 1935, he fled to Austria for a few months. When he returned to Munich, the publishing house had already been taken over by the NSDAP-owned Franz-Eher-Verlag, and Albin von Prybram-Gladona had lost his job and his shares in the publishing house. Without a job, he was no longer able to finance his home and moved in with his parents-in-law.
Due to the serious deterioration in his professional, financial and spatial circumstances as a result of Nazi persecution, Albin von Prybram-Gladona sold parts of his art collection. In 1938, he and his wife Charlotte Margarethe von Prybram-Gladona, née Herrmann (1910 - 2002), were able to emigrate to France, where he was interned several times and regularly checked by the Gestapo. In June 1941, both were deprived of their citizenship. He returned to Munich in 1945.
In November 1935, Albin von Prybram-Gladona sent the work "Christ at the Column", created around 1700, to the Bode Museum in the hope that it would acquire the sculpture. In fact, the director, Theodor Demmler, decided to buy it for 400 marks. Given the timing of the sale and the financial pressure Prybram-Gladona was under, the sale must be categorised as a loss of assets due to persecution.
About the work
- Christ in front of the scourging column; Southern Germany or Austria, early 18th century
- Full-round statuette made in one piece, only both hands (now added) attached. Boxwood, later partial version
- Total h. 53.2 cm, h. of the figure 44.3 cm, the base plate 10.7 x 7 cm, the plinth h. 18.8 cm, w. 18.8 cm, d. 17.4 cm.