Losing your looted art
December 6 2016
Picture: Mail
In September this year, agents from the US department of Homeland Security arrived at the house of Opera singer Craig Gilmore and his partner David Crocker looking for a painting; Melchior Geldorp’s “Portrait of a Lady” (above). The picture had been looted by the Nazis from the National Museum in Warsaw, and through a sale in New York a decade ago had been traced to the Gilmore and Crocker. They agreed with the evidence and surrendered the painting. Writing in the LA Times, Gilmore describes what it's like to have to surrender such a favourite object, and how to send it off in style:
As the day of departure drew near, we did what anyone would do for a loved one who was leaving: We threw a farewell party. Emulating our 17th century lady, David and I sported neck-ruffs crafted from car air filters, and prepared a buffet of Polish sausages, pierogis and vodka punch. Our friends came, marveled at the story, and expressed their personal goodbyes. It was a cathartic evening.
The evening before she was to leave, we carefully moved her to an easel at the end of our long entry hall. We desired to send her off in a style that honored the time she had graced our household. The next morning we dressed to the nines, chilled champagne for a final toast with the Homeland Security agents, and nervously awaited their arrival.
Throughout this ordeal, the lead agent had graciously allowed us to feel like we had control over the process. Receiving no formal request for the painting’s return, we felt we were repatriating of our own volition. Reading the necessary paperwork, however, there was no avoiding the terminology being used: seizure. It stung. We signed the paperwork, and then our beloved 400-year-old friend was unceremoniously wrapped in what looked like blankets and pillows from someone’s couch and put into the back of a nondescript vehicle.
Then she was gone.
