Wooded Landscape with Travelers, 1610

[1] The painting was displayed in one of the two painting galleries in the palace; see Detail Des Peintures du Cabinet Electoral de Dusseldorff, possibly c. 1720: no. 7 (available online, from the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/uc-kapsel-1-12s/start.html; accessed October 2020).

Clarification of the provenance reconstructed here has been made possible due to the cooperation between two current research projects at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich, both funded by the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste in Magdeburg: the Stern Cooperation Project and the Boehler Project; with particular thanks to Drs. Willi Korte, Christian Fuhrmeister, and Stephan Klingen for their research and kind assistance. See their full report in NGA curatorial files.

[2] Johann Philipp von der Schlichten (Attributed to), Cabinets des Peintures de Son Altesse Serenissime Electorale au Chateau de Manheim [sic] l’an 1731 [Gemäldekabinette des Kurfürsten Karl III. Philipp von der Pfalz im Residenschloss Mannheim], 4 sheets of ink drawings with wash, 520 x 370 mm, illustrating the hanging arrangement of the paintings, 1731: 4th sheet, wall diagram on left side of sheet, lower left, no. 7, identified as by “F[ruelen]. Brugel” [there is a second no. 7 in this diagram, identified as by Vinckenbaum] (available online, from the library of the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art [INHA], collections Jacques Doucet [Archives, Manuscripts, and Autographs], Paris: https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/viewer/22021/?offset=#page=6&viewer=picture&o=bookmark&n=0&q=; NUM MS 409). Reference to the Schlicten manuscript is in Reinhold Baumstark, et al., Kurfürst Johann Wilhelms Bilder, 3 vols., exh. cat. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 2009: 1:no. 252.

[3] Königl. Baier. Central-Gemälde-Sammlung (Bavarian Royal Central Painting Collection), no. 396 – the source is the 1822 Dillis inventory in the Archive of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen. Reference to the Dillis inventory is in Reinhold Baumstark, et al., Kurfürst Johann Wilhelms Bilder, 3 vols., exh. cat. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 2009: 2:no. 185.

[4] The Königliche Pinakothek, built to house the Bavarian royal painting collection, opened in 1836. See the reference for the painting in Georg von Dillis, Verzeichniss der Gemälde in der königlichen Pinakothek zu München, Munich, 1838: 205, no. 198, where it is mistakenly described as being on copper. The painting was subsequently listed in Alte Pinakothek catalogues: Rudolf Marggraff, Die ältere königliche Pinakothek zu München, Munich, 1872: 166, no. 790, mistakenly described as being on copper; Katalog der Gemälde-Sammlung der Kgl. Älteren Pinakothek in München mit einer historischen Einleitung von Dr. Franz von Reber, Munich, 1888: 142, no. 693; Katalog der Gemälde-Sammlung der Kgl. Älteren Pinakothek in München mit einer historischen Einleitung von Dr. Franz von Reber, Munich, 1908:150, no. 693.

[5] In a complicated exchange, the Alte Pinakothek traded the Brueghel and a painting by Franz van Mieris (today in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles) for three paintings by Strigel. The three Strigels came from the dealer Theodor Fischer in Lucerne, with Böhler acting as the intermediary for the exchange, taking the paintings to Munich to show Pinakothek officials (according to a letter of 30 April 1935 from Fischer to Ernst Buchner, director of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen; original in the Bayerische Hauptstaatsarchiv, Staatsgemaeldesammlungen, vorl. Nr.Reg.AZ-231-1-0017, copy in NGA curatorial files).

The process of working out details of the transaction took place between June and October 1935, with the deaccessioning and trade of the Brueghel and Van Mieris paintings approved by the Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture on 23 October 1935, and the final exchange of paintings occurring in December (see the e-mail of 29 September 2020 from Mirjam Neumeister, Head of Flemish Baroque Painting, Alte Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, to Marjorie E. [Betsy] Wieseman, NGA Curator of Northern European Paintings, as well as the extensive correspondence provided in the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte’s report [see note 1], all in NGA curatorial files).

The Van Mieris went to Fischer in Lucerne and was shared among three owners (Fischer, the Kunsthandel AG, and Nathan Katz), while Böhler kept the Brueghel as commission, according to records in the Julius Böhler archive, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich (copies in NGA curatorial files).

[6] Copies of records from the Böhler and Stern galleries, including the invoice, and of correspondence relating to the sale, from the Böhler Archiv, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, and Bayerische Wirtschaftsarchiv (Bavarian Economic Archive), both in Munich, are in NGA curatorial files. Max Stern inherited his father Julius’s successful gallery in 1934. After losing his professional accreditation in 1935, Stern attempted to “Aryanize” the gallery, but the plan was not successful, and the gallery’s remaining stock was liquidated at the auction house Lempertz in Cologne on 13 November 1937. However, Stern continued to operate during the time his case was under appeal (1935–1937). The Brueghel landscape was not included in the Lempertz auction and was likely sold before it took place.

[7] Assets declaration of Richard Friede, 8 September 1938, in Landesarchiv NRW, Westfalen Department, L001a, Oberfinanzdirektion (Regional Finance Office) Münster, Devisenstelle (Foreign Currency Office), no. 2185; copy in NGA curatorial files.

[8] Sailing from Glasgow, Richard and Grete Friede and their daughter Ursula arrived at St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, on 24 January 1941, their final destination declared as New York (National Archives and Record Administration, Washington, D.C., Manifests of Passengers Arriving in the Saint Albans, Vermont, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1/11/1895-11/30/1954, M164, roll no. 612, images 36-37). See also Josef Niebur, Buch der Erinnerung: Juden in Bocholt, Bocholt, Germany, 2013: 102.

[9] Confirmation of the two transactions in c. 1992 was provided by Konrad Bernheimer, in his e-mail of 5 October 2020 to Henriette Rahusen of the NGA’s Department of Northern European Paintings, in NGA curatorial files.

[10] The date of Marietta Vok’s acquisition of the painting, her place of residence, and the date of her gift of the painting were provided by David Koester, in his e-mail of 5 October 2020 to Henriette Rahusen, in NGA curatorial files.