August 29 through October 20, 2024
Kress Gallery
When we come across works of art in a museum, we are often drawn to their beauty or curious about their meaning. We may not consider that the history of these objects—where they have been and to whom they belonged—can connect us to the lived experiences of individuals.
Lucas Cranach the Elder and Workshop (German, 1472–1553), Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony, ca. 1534, oil on panel.
The two paintings in this special display were both owned by Jewish families in Germany in the years leading up to the Second World War. With the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, Jews faced discrimination and persecution, losing their homes, their livelihoods, and, often, their lives.
From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis confiscated, stole, and looted, or otherwise caused the transfer of some 600,000 artworks from institutions and individuals. These two paintings had different trajectories during this period and can serve to introduce the stories of two of the innumerable families whose lives were upended by the horrors of the Holocaust.
You can read about the Museum’s restitution of one of the works, Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony, HERE.
Shown at top: Adriaen van Ostade (Dutch, 1610-1685), Village Lawyer (detail), 1655, oil on panel. Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961. (1961.48)
The exhibition program at the Museum is supported through the generosity of the
Bernard and Aurdrey Berman Foundation and the Leon C. and June W. Holt Endowment.