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Old Masters

Old Masters, New Owner

By: Nord Wennerstrom

July 2006

OSLO, NORWAY—The Goudstikker Settlement, announced by the Dutch government in February, could mean the loss of 202 Old Master paintings—including masterpieces by Jan Steen and Salomon van Ruysdael—from 17 Dutch museums. The paintings are going to Marei von Saher, the Connecticut-based daughter-in-law of pre–World War II Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who spent years trying to recover hundreds of paintings “bought” (below market rates) in the early 1940s by Hermann Goering and others in the Nazi Party from Goudstikker’s gallery (the Dutch government recovered scores of Goudstikker’s paintings after the war, depositing them in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum and other institutions). What’s the collection worth, and will van Saher keep, loan or sell the paintings? Her attorney isn’t saying, but you can bet art dealers, auction houses and museums are all angling for a cut.

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