Teruggave kunstwerk Friedrich von Nerly

Herr Botschafter, sehr geehrte Gäste,  

meine Damen und Herren, liebe Freunde, 

Zunächst möchte ich Sie alle herzlich im Palast der Nation, dem Haus des föderalen Parlaments, zu diesem freudigen Anlass willkommen heißen. 

Most of us who work in this building have walked by this painting. Sometimes in a hurry, sometimes slowing down or even stopping to admire its marvellous view of Venice, with its gondoliers, the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the statue of Colleone in the square.  

It must also have caught the eye of my illustrious predecessor from Antwerp, Camille Huysmans. If you think I am old, he was a mere 83 years old when he became President of the House of Representatives, a position he held from 1954 to 1958. Huysmans was not only an important statesman but also a connoisseur and lover of art. 

The painting entered the House during his presidency, through the Office des Séquestres, which managed German property, including works of art, in Belgium after the Second World War. Works that remained unsold were allocated to public institutions, including this Parliament.  

Whether it was Camille Huysmans who picked this magnificent depiction of Venice himself, we do not know. What I do know is that it first appeared in our records in 1960, while there was no mention in the inventory of late 1954.  

We also don’t know if Huysmans was even aware it was a work by  Friedrich Nerly.  Indeed, you need very good eyes – especially when you’re well over 80 years old - to identify the German painter's signature. It can be seen on the gondola on the right-hand side, as if it were the name of the boat. 

Decades later, after it caught her eye during a relocation, our curator Sophie Wittemans started her own quest for the story behind this work of art. The file on the piece was particularly poor. The only information it contained was the name of the painter, Friedrich Nerly, and ‘Office des Séquestres’.  

Dr. Wolfram Morath, a leading Nerly specialist and accidentally a friend of our curator, immediately authenticated the work.  It dates from 1849, and was likely purchased directly from the artist by King William I of Prussia and future Emperor of Germany – after some smart moves by a certain Otto von Bismarck. In 1876, kaiser Wilhelm donated it to a new Berlin museum, now known as the Alte Nationalgalerie.  

In the Belgian archives there was no information on how this work ended up here. So, Sophie had to look elsewhere. And that elsewhere was a German database called "Lostart.de", which covers "Nazi-looted art and so-called trophy art".  

In 2002, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and Berlin's Alte Nationalgalerie published a fact sheet attesting to the disappearance of a painting by Nerly entitled "S. Giovanni e Paolo in Venedig”, lost since 1945. This sheet contained an accurate description of the work and its dimensions, but no photograph.  

The sheet also told us that this view of Venice was last catalogued by the museum in 1934; that in 1936, the painting was loaned to the German Embassy in Belgium and that it had disappeared in 1945.  

After the initial disbelief the consensus emerged in Berling that the painting kept here could well be the one the museum had lost track of. The same subject, the same dimensions, and on the back, a label from a Berlin art handler…  

And so here we are, all these years later. I am a little sad that this lovely painting is leaving this House, but it is nevertheless an honour and a delight to see it return home. And as Dorothy told us in ‘The Wizard of Oz’: there is no place like home.  

Ich bin sicher, meine lieben Freunde, dass ‚San Giovanni e Paolo in Venedig‘ bei Ihnen in guten Händen sein wird. 

Nun möchte ich das Wort an Herrn Martin Kotthaus, Botschafter der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, und anschließend an Herrn Gero Dimter, Vizepräsident der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Frau Anette Hüsch, Direktorin der Alten Nationalgalerie, und an Jan Naert, Direktor bei dem Sequestrdienst, übergeben. Ich danke ihnen herzlich für ihre Anwesenheit heute. Es ist uns eine große Ehre und Freude.