ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Allentown Art Museum will part ways with a 16th century painting after learning it once belonged to a German-Jewish family who fled the Nazis before World War ll.
The wartime lost portrait, by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop, and entitled "Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony," has hung at the Lehigh Valley museum since 1961.
The descendants of Henry and Hertha Bromberg, who fled Germany in 1938, first contacted the museum about the portrait in 2022.
"It was extremely important to the Museum to engage in the ethical dimensions of the painting’s history in the Bromberg family. This work of art entered the market and eventually found its way to the museum only because Henry Bromberg had to flee persecution from Nazi Germany," said Max Weintraub, the museum’s president and chief executive, in a statement.
“That moral imperative compelled us to act. We hope that this voluntary act by the museum will inform and encourage similar institutions to reach fair and just solutions."
Through their attorney, the museum sought guidance from the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD).
As part of the deal between the museum and the Bromberg family, the art — an oil on a panel dated to 1534 — is to be sold at the Christie's Old Masters salein New York in January 2025.
The price of the painting is still under discussion. The New York Times and The Art Newspaper reported the proceeds are to be divided between the museum and the Bromberg heirs, but details of the arrangement have not been disclosed.
According to The Art Newspaper, another Cranach portrait sold for $7.7 million at Christie's in 2018.
“That moral imperative compelled us to act. We hope that this voluntary act by the museum will inform and encourage similar institutions to reach fair and just solutions."Max Weintraub, president, Allentown Art Museum
Descendants of the Bromberg family have also reclaimed a series of paintings from museums in France in 2018 and 2016, according to the Huffington Post.
Some of the paintings sold in France were used to help the family emigrate to the United States, where they settled in New Jersey, and later Yardley, Pennsylvania.
“We are pleased that another painting from our grandparents’ art collection was identified and are satisfied that the Allentown Art Museum carefully and responsibly checked the provenance of the 'Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony' and the circumstances under which Henry and Hertha Bromberg had to part with it during the Nazi period," the family said in a statement.
New exhibition
"Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony" isn't leaving the museum at 31 N. Fifth St. just yet. It will remain on display for several more weeks.
It will be part of a new exhibition that highlights works owned by Jewish families in Germany in the years leading up to World War ll.
The installation will be on view Thursday, Aug. 29, through Sunday, Oct. 20, and include information about the decision to officially remove Cranach the Elder's portrait.
Eileen Brankovic, Christie's International business director of restitution, and Richard Aronowitz, Christie’s global head of restitution, will host a conversation about Nazi-era art and restitution at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, with Elaine Mehalakes, vice president of curatorial affairs at the Allentown Art Museum.
Admission to the museum is free, and there is parking in the museum’s lot at Fifth and Linden streets.
