Owner: Consorts Schloss — Paris, France
Collection: (Schloss) Adolphe Schloss-The Schloss collection was assembled with great care by Adolphe Schloss, a German Jew who settled in Paris in the late 19th century. In August 1939, the collection was transferred to a vault at the Chateau de Chambon (Corrèze) for safekeeping. On April 16, 1943, a combination of Nazi policemen and French officials from the CGQJ worked together to confiscate the Schloss collection and transfer it to Paris for processing. There, the collection was split into three parts--the largest going to the Linz Museum project. That part of the collection (262 paintings) was transferred to the Führerbau (Munich) on 24 November 1943 where it remained untouched until 29-30 April 1945 when local Munich citizens broke into the building housing the collection and hundreds of other works and stole everything. Nearly half of the Schloss paintings are still unrestituted.
Inventory No.: Schloss
Artist: Jan Brueghel [Bruegel] the Elder [Hendrick de Clerck]
Medium: Paintings
Title: The Enchanted Island [L'Ile Enchantée]
Description: 34 x 50 cm
Literature: According to Prof. Elizabeth Karlsgodt, in her book entitled "Defending National Treasures: French Art and Heritage under Vichy", this painting was ceded to the French government as part of a deal to integrate into French State collections 49 paintings stolen from the Schloss Collection. See also Hector Feliciano, "Le Musée Disparu" [The Lost Museum].
Provenance and Comments: This painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder does not appear on French Culture Ministry lists or in the Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP) database at www.dhm.de. This painting was one of a group of 49 works set aside for the Louvre and deposited at its Laboratory on 20 August 1943. This painting was wrongly attributed to Jan Bruueghel. It was actually executed by one of his collaborators, Hendrick de Clerck. The French government recovered the painting and restituted it to the Schloss heirs. It was sold at Galerie Charpentier on 5 December 1951.
Archival Sources: RG 260 M1949 Reel 13 NARA
Measurements: 34 x 50 cm
Intake place: 38 avenue Henri Martin, Paris
Transfer place: Chateau de Chambon, Laguenne, Corrèze
Transfer date: 1939-08-20
Transfer place: Banque Dreyfus, Paris, France
Transfer date: 1943-08-11
Transfer place: Louvre
Transfer date: 1943-08-20
Restituted? Yes
Images:
(No image)