Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Art Gallery of Ontario" in English language version.
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has 46 paintings and sculptures with what curators call "a gap in provenance," meaning the history of ownership, in this case between 1933 and 1945, has disappeared. Across the country, in public galleries large and small, there are similar mysteries. To date, three Canadian galleries (the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the National Art Gallery in Ottawa and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) have returned looted Holocaust-era paintings to heirs.
n 18 November 2020 the Commission jointly with the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (AGO) announced the restitution of Still Life with Flowers by Jan van Kessel the Elder to the heirs of Dagobert and Martha David. In March 2020, the Commission made the restitution claim on behalf of the family, providing compelling evidence that the painting had formerly belonged to the family who had fled Germany to Belgium in 1939 only to be trapped there, forced to live in hiding under the German occupation and to sell their possessions in order to survive. Following the painting's forced sale in Brussels, it was traded through Amsterdam and Berlin before it was acquired by the dealer Wildenstein & Co. in London, England. A Canadian purchased the painting from Wildenstein in the early 1950s and donated it to the AGO in 1995.
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has 46 paintings and sculptures with what curators call "a gap in provenance," meaning the history of ownership, in this case between 1933 and 1945, has disappeared. Across the country, in public galleries large and small, there are similar mysteries. To date, three Canadian galleries (the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the National Art Gallery in Ottawa and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) have returned looted Holocaust-era paintings to heirs.
n 18 November 2020 the Commission jointly with the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (AGO) announced the restitution of Still Life with Flowers by Jan van Kessel the Elder to the heirs of Dagobert and Martha David. In March 2020, the Commission made the restitution claim on behalf of the family, providing compelling evidence that the painting had formerly belonged to the family who had fled Germany to Belgium in 1939 only to be trapped there, forced to live in hiding under the German occupation and to sell their possessions in order to survive. Following the painting's forced sale in Brussels, it was traded through Amsterdam and Berlin before it was acquired by the dealer Wildenstein & Co. in London, England. A Canadian purchased the painting from Wildenstein in the early 1950s and donated it to the AGO in 1995.
