The work, a portrait of Steven Wolters from 1683, painted by Caspar Netscher, was stored by her father at a bank after the Nazis raided, where it was stolen during looting. Before that, the painting hung in the woman’s parental home in Arnhem. Now, more than 75 years later, thanks to the detective work of a European foundation, she has it back in her hands. After all sorts of wanderings, the painting ended up in a German private collection.
The painting belonged to her father Joan Hendrik Smidt van Gelder, doctor and director of a children’s hospital in Arnhem. He died in 1969. During the war he had to go into hiding because he ignored orders from the Nazis.
Bischoff van Heemskerck tells the English newspaper that she will put the painting under the hammer at Sotheby’s auction office and that the proceeds will go to her family. “I had five brothers and sisters and there are twenty descendants to whom the painting also belongs. I’ve never had the feeling that it’s just me,” said Bischoff van Heemskerck.
It is not the first time that Bischoff van Heemskerck has received a stolen painting back. In 2017 she got the 17th century work The Oyster Meal from Jacob Ochtervelt back. That painting fetched more than 2 million euros at an auction. Netscher’s work is expected to yield considerably less: about 55,000 euros.