It could very well have been stolen before and left to the museum. Such stories are not uncommon.
For example, a Holocaust-surviving couple in their nineties residing in San Diego just 10 years ago were called by their son in NYC, Their son had received a call from a friend who was traveling in Spain and was in Madrid looking at tourist sites. This friend had gone into the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza where there was a new exhibit of impressionist paintings that had never been exhibited before. The friend called the son in NYC and said “you’re not going to believe what I saw!”.
When the elderly couple was driven out of Germany into a camp for Jews, their apartment was ransacked by Nazis and the artwork they had collected was taken. One of the pieces of art was a masterpiece by Pizarro. The elderly couple had kept photos of all their artwork. They had submitted copies of the photos years before to the German government for recovery.
The friend had seen the photos kept by the family and in the Madrid museum, he saw the Pizarro worth then about $50 million.
Heine Thyssen was a German-Swiss shipping magnate whose art collection hidden away in Lucerne rivaled that of Queen Elizabeth’s. The Pizarro had come from his estate left to his gold-digger wife Baroness Tita who was Miss Spain in 1961.
In the art world, there are a lot of ‘title’ issues. Just because a piece hangs in a museum, it does not mean title is clean.
If I was reporting the background story on this, I would definitely consider investigating along these lines.
I remember reading that story. I saw the photographs. I guess it’s wise to keep photos of your valuables.
“One of the pieces of art was a masterpiece by Pizarro”
Must be indeed very rare.
I thought that too
Alter is the surname which could be they were Jews too
However....that is a 1955 painting
Most of the artists work is post WWII
And in their pic they don’t look Jewish
So new theory.
Maybe they just liked De Koonig
A lot