A photograph has revealed a masterpiece owned by the National Gallery once hung in Adolf Hitler’s flat in Munich, where he entertained his mistress Eva Braun.
The 16th-century Renaissance work Cupid Complaining to Venus is captured hanging in the living room of Hitler’s apartment in the photo.
Painted by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, the artwork was bought by the National Gallery in 1963 from an American art dealer, Abris Silberman.
The dealer from New York told the gallery it had been bought at an auction in 1909 and then inherited by its then-owner.
However its true history has since been uncovered. Instead of being intended for a private audience, it was planned to be enjoyed by the masses in Hitler’s Fuhrermuseum in his hometown of Linz, Austria.
The Nazis collected – most commonly by stealing or through ‘forced sales’ from Jewish families – thousands of artworks throughout Europe, with the intention of turning Linz into a cultural capital of the Third Reich.
Hitler favoured the painting and it joined the small collection that hung in his residences, including his Munich romantic hideaway at 16 Prinzregentenplatz – where he met with Braun.
The painting, believed to date back to around 1526, depicts Cupid complaining to his mother Venus after being stung by bees while stealing honey.
The painting by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder depicts Cupid complaining to his mother Venus after being stung by bees, while he steals honey
Adolf Hitler first met Eva Braun (pictured) in 1929. Their relationship was kept hidden from the public. The couple married around 40 hours before they jointly committed suicide on April 30 1945.
Its page on the National Gallery’s website has since been taken down, reading: ‘Page not found.’
The photograph taken in the flat was found by art historian Birgit Schwarz, who specialises in the Nazi era, in a catalogue of Hitler’s works. Dr Schwarz believed it was Cranach’s work in 2008, which has since been confirmed.
Among the revelations, it has also emerged the painting was snuck into America by American war correspondent Patricia Lochridge.
The journalist, who worked for the Woman’s Home Companion magazine, chose the work from numerous recovered pieces by Allied forces from Nazi officials.
After Hitler’s suicide in April 1945, the 29-year-old Lochridge was appointed mayor of the Berchtesgaden region as part of a ‘stunt’ by the American military.
She was invited to choose a painting from the 1,000 seized artworks during her brief mayoral reign. These included works by Rembrandt, Van Dyck and Rubens.
After a stint on her New York home’s wall, Lochridge then sold the painting to the now-closed E&A Silberman Galleries.
The painting hung on the walls of Hitler’s eight-bedroom apartment in Munich, which he bought in 1929 after the success of his infamous book Mein Kampf.
The 16th-century Renaissance work Cupid Complaining to Venus is captured hanging in the living room of Hitler’s apartment in the photo
Hitler favoured the painting and it joined the small collection that hung in his residences, including his Munich romantic hideaway at 16 Prinzregentenplatz – where he met with Braun
The National Gallery has long acknowledged the painting’s suspicious history, including a stint of time between 1909 and 1945 where the painting’s whereabouts were unknwon. It is now known to have been in Hitler’s collection.
It said it was provided false information by art dealers when they bought it, having been told it was owned by ‘family descendants’ of the person who bought it from an auction in 1909.
It is understood, as reported by The Times, no one has come forward to claim ownership of the painting.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York did not buy the piece after it was first offered in 1962, leaving it available for purchase by the National Gallery a year later.
Hitler first met Braun in 1929 at the age of 40. She was 17.
Their relationship was kept hidden from the public. The couple married around 40 hours before they jointly committed suicide on April 30 1945.
The ceremony was conducted by Berlin city official Walter Wagner, and witnessed by Nazi officials Joseph Goebbels and Martin Bormann.
A spokesperson for the National Gallery said: ‘While we cannot comment on the photograph that has recently come to light, we said in a press release as far back as March 2008 that: ‘the National Gallery believes that Cranach the Elder’s Cupid Complaining to Venus was once part of Adolf Hitler’s private collection.
‘We have been searching to fill gaps in the provenance of this painting ever since.
‘Our position remains the same that Dr Birgit Schwarz’s identification in 2008 of the painting in another photograph from a catalogue of works in Hitler’s private gallery, now in the Library of Congress in Washington, is correct.
‘This information has been published in the collection pages of our website for many years. Here it is acknowledged that ‘Hitler was said in 1947 to have had a painting by Cranach in the flat in Munich in which he lived from 1929 onwards.
‘Our project, Whereabouts of Paintings, 1933-45, on our website, records gaps in ownership history during this period. We continue to welcome any further information relating to this painting that could be included as part of this ongoing and longstanding research.’
