Detail page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

In 1935, Dresdner Bank sold around 4,400 works of art to the Prussian state, which handed them over to the museums. Since 2018, the Central Archive of the National Museums in Berlin has been investigating whether any of the works still in the museums' collections today are cultural assets seized as a result of Nazi persecution. One group of paintings comes from the Matthiesen Gallery. The SPK has now been able to find a fair and equitable solution with the descendants of the gallery's owners that takes appropriate account of the historical background.

The Jewish art dealer Franz Zatzenstein-Matthiesen had taken out loans for his Berlin gallery in the 1920s. He fled to Switzerland in 1933. The following year, he transferred works of art from his gallery's inventory to the bank to repay the remaining debt. In the course of the Dresdner Bank transaction in 1935, these works were transferred to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. The agreement now reached with the heirs takes into account the damage suffered as a result of the persecution on the one hand, and the fact that it concerned debts from the period before 1933, which the gallery owner would have had to repay even without the persecution, albeit on much more favourable terms.

Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK: "I would like to thank the descendants of the owners of the Matthiesen Gallery for their willingness to engage in dialogue and their openness to finding a fair and just solution in accordance with the Washington Principles. This is a complex case and I am very pleased that together we have succeeded in reaching a solution that reflects the complex historical background: Five works will go to the heirs, one work will remain in the Gemäldegalerie. Over 25 years ago, the SPK began actively investigating its holdings for cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, and the Central Archive has played a decisive role for the museums in this endeavour. Since then, we have returned over 350 works of art and more than 2000 books to their rightful owners."

The descendants explain: 'The SPK has made great efforts together with the heirs of the owners of the Matthiesen Gallery to find a fair and equitable solution regarding these works. The heirs are extremely grateful to the SPK for the responsible way in which the Foundation has dealt with this case.

Dagmar Hirschfelder, Director of the Gemäldegalerie: "As a museum and public institution, it is not only our duty but also a matter of course that we find fair solutions together with the heirs for dealing with works that can be identified as cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution. Systematic research into the provenance of our paintings is therefore essential. Research into the history of the art and antiques trade is also an essential part of this. The paintings are witnesses to injustice suffered. I am therefore delighted that we are able to return several paintings to the descendants of the Matthiesen Gallery."

Petra Winter, Director of the Central Archive, explains: "The provenance research project surrounding the purchase of the artworks from Dresdner Bank in 1935 is very complex and extensive. Our research is less about the artworks and more about the individual loan transactions, which were very different in terms of their structure. We are researching the biographies of the individual borrowers in detail to determine whether this was possibly a persecution-related loss."

Art to repay the credit debts of a gallery owner who had fled

The Berlin-based Galerie Matthiesen GmbH was founded in 1923 by Franz Zatzenstein-Matthiesen. It counted major museums among its clientele and was firmly established in the international art trade. Nevertheless, the gallery ran into financial difficulties in the wake of the global economic crisis. Zatzenstein-Matthiesen had already taken out loans for the gallery in the 1920s from Danat-Bank, which was merged into Dresdner Bank in 1932. Repaying the loans became a challenge for the gallery. In 1932, an agreement was concluded between the bank and the gallery to settle the existing liabilities. Part of the debt was repaid. A payment plan was drawn up for the remaining debt until 1938.

After the Gestapo searched his house, Franz Zatzenstein-Matthiesen emigrated to Zurich in April 1933, but initially remained managing director of the gallery. In 1934, the instalment payments to Dresdner Bank agreed two years earlier could no longer be made. A new agreement was therefore reached between the Matthiesen Gallery and Dresdner Bank in 1934: The remaining debts were repaid by the transfer of ownership of eleven paintings from the gallery's inventory. These were then among the artworks sold to the Berlin State Museums via the Prussian State in 1935. Six of them were identified in the course of research at the Gemäldegalerie, the others were either lost during the war or had already been sold on in the 1930s.

The premature repayment of the entire loan probably caused considerable damage to the gallery. As the repayment would in all probability not have been made in this way if Franz Zatzenstein-Matthiesen had not been forced to emigrate as a result of persecution, the heirs of the owners of the Matthiesen Gallery and the SPK have agreed on a fair and equitable solution.

The descendants of the owners of the gallery receive: Anton van Dyck, succession: Portrait of a Man in Knight's Armour (c. 1619); two Dutch works formerly attributed to Jan van de Capelle: Sailing Ships / Calm Sea with Single Masts and Yacht of States (18th century) and Navy / Sailing Ships on the Merwede off Dordrecht (2nd half of the 17th century); Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, copy: Christ on the Way to Calvary; Dutch, formerly attributed to Ambrosius Benson: Portrait of a Man / Portrait of Melanchton (1546 / 1555). Remains in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie: The Temptation of St Anthony from the circle of Jan (Wellens) de Cock.

Press photos:https://www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/newsroom/presse/pressebilder.html

Further information on Franz Zatzenstein-Matthiesen

Franz Manes Catzenstein was born in Hanover on 14 July 1897. After studying art history and literature in Munich, he married Maria Matthiesen in 1920. On this occasion, he changed his name to Zatzenstein and henceforth bore the name Zatzenstein-Matthiesen.

Franz Zatzenstein-Matthiesen began his career as an art dealer in Munich in 1922, moved to Berlin a year later and opened the Matthiesen Gallery there, which quickly developed into one of the most important galleries for French Impressionism. In the 1920s, the gallery held exhibitions on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Honoré Daumier and Édouard Manet. At the end of the 1920s, Zatzenstein-Matthiesen, together with the art dealers P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, and Knoedler, New York, was also involved in the sale of masterpieces of old art from the Hermitage to Western countries, thus establishing itself in the international art trade.

In April 1933, Franz Zatzenstein-Matthiesen emigrated to Zurich after his house was searched by the Gestapo. Four years later, he moved to London, where he opened the Matthiesen Gallery shortly afterwards. In 1939, Franz Zatzenstein-Matthiesen's shares in the Berlin gallery were confiscated and the art dealership passed into "Aryan" hands. He lived in London until his death in 1963, where he continued to work as an art dealer under the name Francis M. Matthiesen. His son Patrick Matthiesen has been running the London gallery as The Matthiesen Galler since 1978

Further information

Focus topic Annual Report SPK 2023: 25 years after the Washington Conference: https://www.spkmagazin.de/2024/fair-und-gerecht-25-jahre-nach-der-washingtoner-konferenz.html

Project on Dresdner Bank:https://www.smb.museum/museen-einrichtungen/zentralarchiv/forschung/provenienzforschung/erwerbungen-dresdner-bank-1935/