In 1940, Nazis seized a 3-inch painting; 86 years later Austria returned it
Austria has returned a 19th-century watercolor painting to the heirs of Eduard Epstein, a Jewish merchant whose art collection was seized by Nazis in 1938. The small painting was identified in a museum collection decades later, leading to its restitution to Epstein's surviving family members.
Why it matters
This highlights ongoing international efforts to restitute cultural property looted during the Holocaust to rightful heirs.
An 1847 painting made by a not-so-popular artist wouldn't have much historical or monetary value for most. But to Jackie Sondell, whose three grandparents died in the Holocaust, it's a priceless family heirloom. The Austrian deputy consul general in the Twin Cities, from his posting in New York, lifted the top off a cardboard box and pulled out a tiny piece of art. The 1847 watercolour miniature, about 3 inches tall and 2 inches wide, showed a nobleman who was an officer in the Austrian Empire's army and was stolen from the house of Sondell's relative Eduard Epstein in Vienna, Austria, by the Nazis, as per a report by The Minnesota Star Tribune.It was painted by Albert Theer, an Austrian painter not much famed in history. For years, the miniature had been overlooked at the Museum of Military History in Vienna.
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