Posted on 12/04/2016 10:13:48 AM PST by EveningStar
Two agents from U.S. Homeland Security’s ICE unit arrived at my door in September looking for a Polish lady — not a person, but a painting: Melchior Geldorp’s “Portrait of a Lady.” She had, they informed me, been looted by the Nazis from the National Museum in Warsaw.
Unsure if these gentlemen were indeed who they claimed to be, I didn’t invite them in. But I knew exactly what they were seeking: My partner, David, and I had purchased this very portrait — ostensibly the work of a different artist — a decade earlier from a major auction house in New York.
Upon their leaving, I stood dumbfounded, holding a packet of information about the alleged provenance of our painting. After calling David at work to drop this bombshell, I began a Googling frenzy, eventually bringing me to Poland’s Division for Looted Art website. Seconds later I was gawking at an old black-and-white photo of our beloved lady, a beautiful portrait painted on oak panel in 1628. Tears welled in my eyes with the realization that, without question, if this were true we needed to do our duty and get her safely home.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Exactly, he could have been a jerk and fought this in court. But he didn’t. Some of the comments on here.... ugh... hate the sin, not the sinner.
And, actually, if it is at risk of being returned to a Muslim country, it might be destroyed for the very reason that it is Western and depicts a human form. It would be an act of preservation to keep it!
I agree
The number of homos killed (for the sole fact of being homosexuals, not just “by the way”) by so called Nazis was tiny. It wasn’t until all the recent homosexual agenda offensive that “gays” became somehow regarded as one of the major victims of “Nazis”.
Okay, so we're half-way between the point where a sentence like that was abhorrent or absurd and the point where it's passed over with a yawn.
I used to have a Poker Dogs. Mrs. JohnnyP tossed it.
Don’t know why you included me in that rant. I said it was art. And I draw pretty good stick figures.
No Shiite?
You are an amazing man.
How’s trick?
Left me J. O. B. then promptly got sick with Bronchitis and a remarkably infected jaw, due to an impacted tooth.
Painful beyond belief and going on my 4th week dealing with. Weird to have one entire side of your face numbed, like you have been shot up at the dentist and hurts to shave.
But, slowly it is clearing up with a 4th week of antibiotics.
The headaches were devastating, as well as my jaw and teeth.
Hope to see you after the 1st of the year...
queers in closets don’t lose paintings
I write this as someone who loves art, is sensitive to beauty, and is a strong supporter of the Jewish people. These guys did the honorable thing. Not that they had much choice—the paper trail to their door was clear, and they had no right to keep the painting. That said, there sure was a lot of weeping and self-dramatization about what should have been a quiet legal transaction. Crying? Everthing isn’t about you and your emotions, boys.
I could not access the LA story, but in the least, they should have been refunded what they paid for the painting, unless they knew it was stolen.
And you know this how?
How were they sympathetic to the Nazis? They didn't know the true origin of the painting.
Put two and two together.
My recollection is that the transition was the transition from brownshirts to blackshirts. They were part of the rise, and early thuggery, but many were eliminated around the time of the Night of the Long Knives.
ICE-Immigration and 'Customs' Enforcement. Illegal imports is a big part of what they do. The painting was stolen property even if the importer/seller did not know it.
Had you read the article, it explains that although (according to this account) he and his partner voluntarily surrrendered the painting, they had to sign government paperwork that used the term "seizure" to define the transfer of custody of the art.
Ah, a fag, I see.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.