Henry Bromberg, a Jewish man from Hamburg, was forced to flee Germany in the late 1930s. During his departure, Bromberg sold off a large art collection that he had built.
That collection included the painting Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony, created in 1534, which was purchased from a New York gallery in 1961 by the Allentown Art Museum.
Now the Museum seeks to “engage in the ethical dimensions of the paint’s history,” according to a press release. An agreement has been reached with Bromberg’s heirs that all parties are calling a “fair and just solution.”
The Allentown Art Museum followed the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi Confiscated Art, which call for all Nazi confiscated art to be identified, publicized, and made available to researchers, and for heirs of the pre-war owners to be restituted.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General gave approval for the painting to be included in Christie’s Old Master sale in New York in January 2025.
Before its sale, the Museum will highlight the work alongside another painting from a Jewish family that lived in Germany leading up to the second World War. This special exhibit will be open Thursday, August 29 through October 20. A Dynamic Conversation on Nazi-era art will also take place at the Museum on September 28 at 1 PM.
The Bromberg family expressed their joy to see the painting from their grandparents’ collection be identified and treated properly, especially by a Pennsylvania museum, since their grandparents settled in Yardley, PA after emigrating to the United States.
Allentown Art Museum President and CEO, Max Weintraub, said the painting’s “moral imperative compelled them to act.” He hopes other museums will follow their lead in finding fair solutions for these historical works of art.
