ATTRIBUTED TO FRANS DE MOMPER (ANTWERP 1603-1660)
ATTRIBUTED TO FRANS DE MOMPER (ANTWERP 1603-1660)
ATTRIBUTED TO FRANS DE MOMPER (ANTWERP 1603-1660)
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PROPERTY RESTITUTED TO THE HEIRS OF BENJAMIN AND NATHANIEL KATZ
ATTRIBUTED TO FRANS DE MOMPER (ANTWERP 1603-1660)

A winter landscape with figures, horses and carts travelling, a town beyond

Details
ATTRIBUTED TO FRANS DE MOMPER (ANTWERP 1603-1660)
A winter landscape with figures, horses and carts travelling, a town beyond
oil on panel, the reverse stamped with the coat-of-arms of the city of Antwerp and the panel maker's mark of Michiel Claessens (active Antwerp 1590-1637)
16 x 20 7/8 in. (40.6 x 53 cm.)
Provenance
with D. Katz, Dieren.
Kunsthandel voorheen J. Goudstikker NV (Alois Miedl), Amsterdam, acquired from the above, 7 August 1940 (Miedl no. 5439), and transferred to Schantung Handels AG; Hans W. Lange, Berlin, 3 December 1940 (=1st day), lot 129, as Frans de Momper.
Anonymous sale; Lempertz, Cologne, 21 November 1957 (=1st day), lot 103, as Frans de Momper.
(Possibly) with Galerie International, The Hague, 1961.
Anonymous sale; Lempertz, Cologne, 21 May 1992, lot 93, as Frans de Momper.
with Galerie Lingenauber, Düsseldorf, 1993, from whom acquired by the following,
European Investment Bank, Luxembourg, by whom restituted to the heirs of Benjamin and Nathaniel Katz, April 2024.

Brought to you by

Lucy Speelman
Lucy Speelman Junior Specialist, Head of Part II

Lot Essay


This painting, which is probably datable to the 1630s and informed by the work of Joos de Momper II, is executed on a panel bearing the maker's mark of the eminent Antwerp panel maker Michiel Claessens. On account of the freedom with which many of the details are handled, including the extremely loose approach to the ruined structure at left, an attribution to Frans de Momper is plausible. Frans was active in Antwerp until he moved the the Dutch Republic in 1646 and his works are often more painterly than those of his more famous uncle.

A note on the provenance:

Christie’s is honoured to present this lot on behalf of the heirs of Benjamin and Nathaniel Katz, the former owners of the Firma D. Katz, by whom it was sold under duress during the Second World War.

Brothers Benjamin and Nathaniel Katz were joint partners in Firma D. Katz, the preeminent Dutch art gallery founded by their father in 1887. Under Benjamin and Nathaniel’s leadership, Firma D. Katz became one of the most famous art dealerships in the Netherlands, trading in art and antiques with a specialty in Dutch Old Master paintings. Following the Nazi occupation of the country in May 1940, the Katz brothers were forced to sell their stock to Nazis and Nazi-affiliated buyers, and anti-Jewish laws ultimately required them to liquidate their family business. After the war, the Katz brothers sought to recover their looted inventory of hundreds of works. Unfortunately, this painting and most of the collection were not returned, despite extensive and ongoing efforts by the Katz family.

Decades later, the then-owner of A Winterscene, the European Investment Bank, partnered with the Art Loss Register to research the painting’s provenance, which revealed the persecution-related loss of the painting by the Firma D. Katz. In April 2024, the bank announced the return of the painting to the heirs of the rightful owners.

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