A John Constable painting depicting a boat being beached in Brighton may have been looted by the Nazis during the Second World War.
A government advisory panel is looking into whether the Tate should give up the work – Beaching A Boat, Brighton – according to a report in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
The report said that the painting, believed to be worth about £1 million, was owned by a French collector in 1908.
The newspaper said: ” It’s whereabouts during the German invasion of France in the war is unknown.”
But in the 1960s, according to the report, it turned up in a Cotswolds gallery and was bought by a British woman who gave it to the Tate.
The newspaper quoted the Tate as saying: “The Spoliation Advisory Panel is currently considering a claim for the return of a painting.
“It will publish it’s findings in the next few weeks.”
Constable visited Brighton and Hove a number of times from 1824-28.
In other words there’s no evidence in this report whatsoever that the painting was “looted” by the Germans or anybody else. If it was owned by a Frenchman in 1908 it may have been sold by him or his family at any time during or after the First World War. Much was destroyed or removed from France during the four years of the First World War, and the six years of the next war.
In other words there’s no evidence in this report whatsoever that the painting was “looted” by the Germans or anybody else. If it was owned by a Frenchman in 1908 it may have been sold by him or his family at any time during or after the First World War. Much was destroyed or removed from France during the four years of the First World War, and the six years of the next war.