The feeling of getting back a prized possession hits differently. This happened with a 101-year-old Dutch woman and it was quite visible on her face. The Dutch lady got back a painting taken away by the Nazis from her father during the second world war. The artwork is the portrait of Steven Walters. It was created by a Dutch master Caspar Netscher in 1683. Netscher’s several paintings are in the National Gallery in London. The woman is Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck, she is a non-practising Baptist. Moreover, She joined hands with the Dutch resistance during the war and never gave up hope to get this painting back. She looks to place it up for auction at Sotheby’s in London.
Details about the Dutch woman’s painting
The painting is a much-loved possession of her father Joan Hendrik Smidt van Gelder. Joan was a doctor and director of a children’s hospital. He had gone into hiding because he refused to accept orders from Nazis after Germany’s invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.
After the Netherlands was attached, Joan stored the artwork in the Amsterdam Bank in Arnhem. From there, it was looted by Nazis. During the hustle and bustle of the war, the painting vanished. The London-based Commission for Looted Art in Europe informed that in the mid-1950s, it surfaced at a Düsseldorf gallery. Later, in 1969, the painting was auctioned in Amsterdam. A private collector in Germany acquired the same in 1971. After rounds of negotiations with the collector, the painting was returned to Bischoff van Heemskerck in 2021.
On seeing it again, the Dutch woman said that “I am amazed.” Now, she is getting the painting auctioned on July 6. It may fetch from £30,000 to £50,000.