Estate shows Nazi forced-sale works

The estate is working hard to recover all the estimated 400 works sold off from Stern's collection between 1935 and 1937.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Two paintings that the Nazis forced a Jewish art dealer to sell off in the 1930s have been returned to his estate, and its heirs said Wednesday they were working hard to recover all the estimated 400 works sold off from Stern's collection between 1935 and 1937. The returned paintings were put on display - Flight from Egypt by the circle of Jan Wellens de Cock and Girl from the Sabine Mountains by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The latter was a copy. Both paintings will be loaned to art museums in Canada for display. Stern escaped to England in 1937 after the Nazi government forced him to liquidate his art gallery. He later moved to Canada, where he again became an art dealer after World War II. After his death in 1987, Stern - who had no children - left his estate to McGill and Concordia Universities in Montreal and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Only 25 pieces of Stern's original collection have been located so far in public and private collections.