Dutch police are investigating the “sophisticated theft” of two artworks by the famous Dutch Jewish painter Isaac Israels. The paintings are worth approximately $250,000, police said Wednesday. Police reportedly believe two middle-aged men stole the paintings from the home of a collector in The Hague. The men told the 68-year-old collector that they had been sent to fetch the paintings for restoration. The collector told police that he had planned to send the paintings to the conservator named by …More

The Hague city government agreed topay 1 million euros ($1.43 million) to the heir of a Jewish artdealer whose gallery was looted by Hermann Goering for part of aJan Steen painting that was in fragments until 1996. Jacques Goudstikker left about 1,400 artworks in hisgallery when he escaped Amsterdam in 1940 on a cargo boat withhis wife and baby son. He died during the crossing and hisgallery was looted. In 2006, the Dutch government returned 202works from the national collection to Goudstikkers sole heir,his …More

Lawyers for the U.S. heir of a Jewish art dealer who lost many paintings while fleeing the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands say she has settled with The Hague municipality on a valuable work by Jan Steen. The lawyers say Marei von Saher will receive €1 million ($1.4 million) and donate her share in the painting “The Marriage of Tobias and Sarah” to a Hague museum. The piece has an unusual history: it was cut in two before the war and painstakingly restored in the 1990s — before von …More