PRESS RELEASE: The Regional Court of Hanover (Landgericht Hannover) attests
that the Niedersächsische Landesmuseum acquired a Tiepolo painting in good
faith despite expert concerns regarding the lawfulness of this acquisition.
The heirs of Ferrari di Valbona claimed the restitution of a painting
forming part of the family’s art collection by the Venetian Rococo painter
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Il miracolo di Sant’ Antonio, oil on canvas,
1754/60) by filing an action against the state Lower Saxony. This painting
was acquired in London in 1929 by the Jewish industrialist Ettore Modiano,
and was imported to Italy. Since that date, the work forms part of the
family art collection in Bologna and was published on several national and
international monographies. During World War II, it was declared to be a
culture asset of special importance in Italy. After the death of Mr. Modiano
in 1956, the ownership of the painting descended to his daughter Paola
Modiano Ferrari di Valbona. She took the painting to her apartment in Paris
where it was stolen in February of 1979. The theft is proven by according
police minutes. After the family’s repeated futile inquiries with the
competent police authority regarding the whereabouts of the painting, it
again reported the theft to the Carabinieri Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio
Artistico, the special unit of the Italian police, in November 2001,
pointing to the outstanding cultural importance of the painting. The unit’s
research proved that the stolen painting was owned by the Niedersächsische
Landemuseums Hannover (Lower Saxony State Museum) since 1985.
February 13, 2008 – 5:17 am
The Regional Court of Hanover (Landgericht Hannover) attests that the
Niedersächsische Landesmuseum acquired a Tiepolo painting in good faith
despite expert concerns regarding the lawfulness of this acquisition
On behalf of the heirs of Ferrari di Valbona and family represented by us,
we would like to state the following:
1. The heirs of Ferrari di Valbona claimed the restitution of a painting
forming part of the family’s art collection by the Venetian Rococo painter
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Il miracolo di Sant’ Antonio, oil on canvas,
1754/60) by filing an action against the state Lower Saxony. This painting
was acquired in London in 1929 by the Jewish industrialist Ettore Modiano,
and was imported to Italy. Since that date, the work forms part of the
family art collection in Bologna and was published on several national and
international monographies. During World War II, it was declared to be a
culture asset of special importance in Italy. After the death of Mr. Modiano
in 1956, the ownership of the painting descended to his daughter Paola
Modiano Ferrari di Valbona. She took the painting to her apartment in Paris
where it was stolen in February of 1979. The theft is proven by according
police minutes. After the family’s repeated futile inquiries with the
competent police authority regarding the whereabouts of the painting, it
again reported the theft to the Carabinieri Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio
Artistico, the special unit of the Italian police, in November 2001,
pointing to the outstanding cultural importance of the painting. The unit’s
research proved that the stolen painting was owned by the Niedersächsische
Landemuseums Hannover (Lower Saxony State Museum) since 1985.
2. The Niedersächsische Landesmuseum alleges to have acquired the painting
in 1985 from a private art dealer in Paris, Madame Grati Baroni de Piqueras.
In 1984, the head curator of the museum had been asked about the Tiepolo by
an art collector known to him and to be kept secret by him. He had then made
an appointment with Madame Grati Baroni de Piqueras in her apartment in
Paris. The painting, however, had been stored in a safe in a nearby bank.
After inspection of the painting and aware of the fact that it had been an
Italian work, the provenance of which had last been “Collection Ettore
Modiano, Bologna“, the head curator acting on behalf of the Niedersächsische
Landesmuseum had asked the art trader if she had duly exported the painting
from Italy, including all permissions necessary in this regard. In reply to
this question, she had simply declared, without showing any export
documents, the painting had been in France for some time. The question of
the head curator if the painting would be from Mr. Modiano in Bologna, had
been answered in the negative by her. Neither is the museum able to produce
the export papers which would prove that the transport of the painting from
France to Germany was duly made, nor was any proof furnished during the
proceeding that the export turnover tax undisputedly required had been paid.
3. In the context of the proceeding, the renowned art historian and former
director of the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, Prof. Dr. Jan Kelch, prepared an
expert opinion upon the court’s instruction regarding the question if the
museum had not complied with its duty to exercise due care in accordance
with the international practice of museums when acquiring the painting. The
expert had made it absolutely clear that upon acquisition of the painting in
dispute “the duties to exercise due care and to collect sufficient
information required to be complied with by museums, had not been
sufficiently adhered to in two aspects“. This would, on the one hand, regard
the “readiness to assume a risk when negotiating with the art dealer“, and
on the other, the export formalities had “not at all been understood as a
problem“.
4. Irrespective thereof, the Regional Court of Hanover had dismissed the
action of the heirs of Ferrari di Valbona with its judgment of January 11,
2007. The court held that the museum had acted in good faith when acquiring
the ownership in the painting. Despite the expert’s view that the museum
breached its duties to exercise due care and to collect sufficient
information, the Regional Court of Hanover considers these fact (a readiness
to assume a risk regarding the person of the seller and, first and foremost,
the undisputed non-compliance with export formalities) not to be of decisive
importance. With this, the Regional Court provides the Landesmuseum with the
right to excuse an obviously illegal transport of the painting from France
to Germany.
Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover
Willy-Brandt-Allee 5
30169 Hannover
Tel: (0511) 9807 - 686
Fax: (0511) 9807 - 684
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The heirs of Ferrari di Valbona are currently considering to file appeal
against the judgment.
Cesare Ferrari di Valbona
Tel 0039 02 23164798
Fax 0039 02 23161949
Mobile 0039 334 6245151
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