For the most part, Colloquium XV of the series “Provenienz- und Sammlungsforschung” informs about the results of the research project – funded from 2020 to 2025 by the German Lost Art Foundation – that investigated the private art collection of Jacques and Emma Rosenthal. This collection had been partly documented in the privately printed catalogue “Pictures and Globes Owned by Jacques Rosenthal” that Erwin Rosenthal had dedicated to his father, Jacques, on his 60th birthday in 1914. The project attempted to reconstruct the collection, its dispersal after 1933 and, to the degree possible, the current whereabouts of the objects that had been dispossessed or sold under duress due to Nazi persecution. Some restitutions have taken place in the course of the project, others are in process, and one return will take place Oct. 6 at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (ZI), as part of the public program.
The colloquium, however, also branches out to include aspects beyond the project, which ends on October 30, 2025. This entails various loose ends pertaining to the internationally renowned antiquarian bookshop on Brienner Straße, such as the valuable stock that was confiscated. Presentations also address the fate of the antiquarian bookshop of Jacques’ brother Ludwig.
Like the project, the colloquium is carried out in cooperation with the descendants of the Rosenthal family, and serves as a platform or meeting point of researchers and family. It aims to share recollections and results, experiences and insights, wishes and visions, demands and reflections. Finally, we wish to discuss the nature of this specific category of research, which is being carried out on behalf of heirs or descendants of persons who lost their collections – and all else, including their stock – as a result of National Socialist persecution.
PROGRAMME
| Contributions in either English or German; no translations provided |
14.00 | Get-together / 14.30 | Getting started / Auftakt
Welcome / Begrüßung
Franziska Eschenbach* // The Rosenthal Cosmos
Christian Fuhrmeister // Researching Rosenthal: How it began, how the project unfolded, and what happened on the way
Rebecca Friedman, Holocaust Claims Processing Office, New York // Research and Restitution: A Shared Journey in a Looted Art Claim
Stephan Klingen, Munich // Provenienzforschungsprojekte mit Nachfahren: Auftragsforschung oder Grundlagenforschung? | Discussion
15.15 | PANEL I – AD FONTES – QUELLEN ZUR FAMILIE ROSENTHAL
Anton Löffelmeier, Stadtarchiv München // „NL-ROS“ – Die Geschichte eines Bestandes
Jos van Waterschoot, Universitätsbibliothek Amsterdam (UBA) // Das Ludwig Rosenthal Archiv an der Universitätsbibliothek Amsterdam
Short discussion
15.35 | PANEL II – RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES / FORSCHUNGSPERSPEKTIVEN
Angéline Rais, University of London // Jacques Rosenthal and his dealings with medieval manuscripts in 1920s-1930s
Cosima Dollansky // „Rosenthal“ in annotierten Auktionskatalogen
Lena Schneider // Circular of the Reichskulturkammer in late August 1935
Franziska Eschenbach // Findings and results of the Rosenthal project
Discussion
16.40 | Coffee Break
17.15 | PANEL III – TWO CASE STUDIES / ZWEI FALLSTUDIEN
William Bran, The Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency, The Hague // Frans Francken II and a gap in the provenance chain
Regina Prinz, Münchner Stadtmuseum // Die Restitution der Apostelfigur aus der Sammlung des Münchner Stadtmuseums
Short discussion
17.35 | PANEL IV – THE FAMILY PERSPECTIVE(S)
Tony Misch, San Francisco // A Reflection
Julia Rosenthal, Oxford // Rückblick ist Zukunft
J.A. Muir Gray, Oxford // The social and political significance of research
Jacqueline Gray, Oxford // A personal Recollection
18.15 | PANEL V – PRIVATE TO PRIVATE: RETURN OF A PAINTING FROM THE ROSENTHAL COLLECTION THAT HAD BEEN SOLD UNDER DURESS Franziska Eschenbach // Introduction
Monika Trägler, Munich // Recherchen zur Sammlung des Münchner Malers Hans Best
Monika Trägler, Munich // Handover / Übergabe
18.30 | ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION – BULLET POINTS TO TAKE AWAY
Franziska Eschenbach, Christian Fuhrmeister, Jacqueline Gray, Meike Hopp, Tony Misch, Julia Rosenthal 19.00 | End of Colloquium
*Unless indicated, all speakers are based at the ZI in Munich.
CONCEPT& ORGANISATION: Franziska Eschenbach, Christian Fuhrmeister
For additional information, visit: www.zikg.eu/aktuelles/veranstaltungen/2025/provenienz-und-sammlungsforschung-xv
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