The Hunt for Lost Artefacts
Quote of the week
“General Patton, upon seeing the Roman ruins at Agrigento, remarked to a local expert, “Seventh Army didn’t cause that destruction, did it, sir?” The man replied, “No sir, that happened in the last war.” “What war was that?” “The Second Punic War.”
― Robert M. Edsel, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, And The Greatest Treasure Hunt In History
In the Sint Baafs’ cathedral in Ghent there is one of the most amazing works in the history of art, namely the altar painting by brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck, worked on between 1420 and 1432.
In the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Bruges, there is the sculpture Madonna and Child by Michelangelo who worked on it between 1501 and 1504.
What do these two works of art have in common?
The Altarpiece in Ghent
Art thefts have happened over the years, but one wonders if the altarpiece does not have a record on that front. According to art historian Noah Charney, the painting/triptych has been the victim of 13 crimes since its installation and seven thefts. The altarpiece was one of a number of works of art brought to Paris after the French Revolution. It was returned in 1815 after Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
Parts of the painting (it consists of panels) were pawned in 1815 by the diocese of Ghent and when the diocese failed to redeem them, they were sold by the dealer to an English collector in Berlin. He in turn sold them on to the King of Prussia, Frederick William III for £16,000, a huge sum at the time and the highest ever for a painting. The Ghent panels were damaged in a fire in 1822, while the hinged Adam and Eve panels were sent to a museum in Brussels.
During the First World War, other panels were taken from the cathedral by German forces, which were returned to Ghent, along with the previously legally purchased panels, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1934 the panels The Just Judges and Saint John the Baptist were stolen. As a gesture of goodwill(!?), the thief returned the panel of Saint John the Baptist, but The Just Judges are still missing. One wonders what happened to it. But it doesn't end there.
In order to keep the altarpiece safe during World War II, Belgian authorities decided to send the altarpiece to the Vatican. On the way there, while the painting was still in France, Italy declared war on France as an Axis power alongside Germany. The plans had to be changed and the painting was kept in a museum in Pau during the war. To secure the painting, French, Belgian and German military representatives signed an agreement that required the consent of all three parties before the masterpiece could be moved. It did not help much when, in 1942, Hitler ordered that the altarpiece be confiscated and taken to Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria.
The Madonna and Child sculpture in Bruges
This sculpture was also subject to theft, but only twice if that is any consolation. The first time was in 1794 after French revolutionaries had conquered the Austrian Netherlands. The inhabitants of Bruges were ordered to send it, and several other works of art, to Paris. This too was returned to Bruges after the fall of Napoleon.
The second time was in 1944, at the retreat of German soldiers. They smuggled the sculpture to Germany, wrapped in mattresses, in a Red Cross truck.
Searching for lost works of art
In the final months of the war, the United States sent a group of art experts to Europe to try to locate the artworks stolen from museums and private individuals. The story has been told in the film The Monuments Men from 2014, which can be recommended (available on Netflix).
The search took time as it was not known where the paintings were hidden. In the end, through several investigations, it was believed that the works of art were hidden in various mines in Siegen and Merker in Germany, in Altausse in Austria, as well as at the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. After examining the first two mines and finding neither the altarpiece nor the Madonna, but other works of art, they continued to the salt mine in Austria. Times were running out and it was the last place they could search.
It is an exciting story how the Monuments Men got there to find the entrances to the mine blown up, and their hopes dashed. However, it transpired, that when Allied troops approached the salt mine in April 1945, the military representative ordered the mine to be blown up. Eight 500 kg bombs were transported into the tunnels and waited to be activated. On the night of May 3-4, the local mine management and miners decided to remove the bombs from the mine. This was done at great risk to those involved. It succeeded and to prevent access to the mine and secure the contents, the large entrances were blown up.
Between 1943 and 1945 the mine served as a repository for art stolen by the Nazis. Hitler had plans to build a 'Führermuseum' in Linz. He didn't make it that far, but began to collect works of art from all over Europe.
Here Monuments Men finally found Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges and the van Eyck brothers' altarpiece from Ghent. They also found i.a. Vermeer's paintings The Astronomer and The Art of Painting. The latter, which hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, was not included in the large Vermeer exhibition in Amsterdam last year, due to its fragility. But The Astronomer was there. The artworks were taken to the Central Art Collecting Point in Munich, and the process started to restore the artworks to their rightful owners is still ongoing today.
After having read up on the history it was with great anticipation we arrived at the mine and bought our tickets for the guided tour. Today the mine, apart from still functioning as a salt mine, is a museum. Where the Monuments Men worked their way into the tunnels is today the entrance to the guided tour. An exciting tour that takes you 700 meters straight into the mountain. You visit the Barbara chapel, the patron saint of miners, which was once created for the benefit of the miners.
From there we walked deeper into the mine and came to the place where a bigger area had been cut out of the rocks to create a huge space. It was necessary to be able to store all the items. An exhibition tells about the finds and the work to restore the artworks. There is also one of the bombs that the local population, at the risk of their own lives, moved out of the mine. At the end of the war, there were 6,577 paintings, 137 sculptures and 484 boxes of other art, as well as furniture, weapons, coins and library collections hidden in the salt mine in Altaussee. An interesting visit made even more exciting by the fact that we watched the movie Monuments Men the night before.
The artefacts?
Both Belgian works of art were found in the same place, in the Altaussee salt mine. They were rehabilitated after the war and are back where they belong. To the delight of visitors to Ghent and Bruges.
The Monuments Men is one of my favorite films. I so admire them and it was fascinating. I'd love to read the book. To actually be at the mine, to visit, to see it up close would be fascinating. I would love that experience and I am so grateful that you shared it with us.