Nicolas de Largillierre, Portrait de femme a mi-corps. Estimate €50,000-80,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2024.

PARIS.- Rose Valland (1898-1980) was a French art historian and curator at the Jeu de Paume in Paris and a member of the Resistance who secretly recorded details of art plundered by the Nazis. During the German occupation of Paris (1940-44) the Jeu de Paume served as warehouse for the many works of art looted by the Germans. In 1961 Rose Valland published Le Front de l’Art, a book based on her secretly taken notes. Today, Rose Valland is recognised for her role in the protection of France’s cultural heritage and her records are still highly valuable for provenance research and restitution efforts today.

Rose Valland was awarded multiple honors, inluding the médaille de la Résistance française (1946). She was named Officer of the Légion d’honneur, and Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Abroad, she was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1948) and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1972), becoming one of the most decorated French women ever.

In November and December, two key events at Christie’s will bring Rose Valland and her considerable legacy back to life:

The sale of a painting that appears in an iconic image taken at the end of the Second World War.

On 21 November Portrait de femme à mi-corps by Nicolas de Largillierre painted around the turn of the 18th Century will be part of the Old Master Painting auction in Paris: Maîtres Anciens : Peintures – Dessins – Sculptures. The painting’s history is closely linked to that of the Allied Monuments, Fine Arts and Archive’s Section (also known as the Monuments Men). Looted from the bank vault of Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) in Arcachon in late 1940 and transferred to the Jeu de Paume in Paris in February 1941, the portrait was recovered by the Monuments Men in May 1945, days before the end of World War II, at Neuschwanstein Castle, in Bavaria, thanks to the notes Rose Valland had taken and shared in secret.

Portrait de femme à mi-corps is not only a wonderful painting, it is also part of an iconic photograph (see top of press release) taken in May 1945 on the steps of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, showing James J. Rorimer of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archive Section together with three soldiers of the 7th US Army, holding three of the many works of art looted by the Germans. Portrait de femme à mi-corps can be seen on the right-hand side of this iconic photograph, which is the visual element retracing the important work and history of the Monuments Men during and after World War II.

Thanks to Rose Valland’s farsightedness in taking secret notes, the painting was located at the beginning of May 1945 in Bavaria alongside thousands of other looted works of art, and was returned to Paris in November 1945, underlining the pragmatic attitude of the allied authorities, who favored a rapid first wave of restitutions. The work was then officially restituted to the Rothschild family on 3 May 1946 and remained in their collection until 1978 when it was bought at auction by today’s owner The portrait will be offered on 21 November in Paris with an estimate of €50,000-80,000.

Portrait de femme à mi-corps exemplifies the style of Nicolas de Largillierre, one of the prominent painters in Paris during the reign of Louis XIV and the Regency. His highly acclaimed portraits, in the style of Rubens and van Dyck, are part of the permanent collections of the Louvre, the Château de Versailles and the Uffizi Galleries amongst others. Works by Nicolas de Largillierre are receiving renewed recognition from collectors around the world, underlined by the new auction record for the artist established at Christie’s in 2020 for La Belle Strasbourgeoise selling for €1.6 million.

Le Front de l’Art/ The Art Front: Valland's pioneering book finally translated

On December 10th at Christie’s New York, the Monuments Men and Women Foundation will launch the first ever English edition of Front de l’Art [The Art Front] – Valland's pioneering work, first published in French in 1961.

As looted French private collections passed through the doors of the Jeu de Paume, Valland eavesdropped on German conversations and secretly kept meticulous notes on the destinations of train and truck shipments filled with looted art. Valland’s modest appearance and quiet demeanor covered her cleverness and courage. Although suspicious of her, the Nazis remained mostly unaware that she understood German, enabling her to gather critical information from their conversations. Another source of information were her colleagues, drivers, guards and packers. She relayed all her notes to Jacques Jaujard, director of the French National Museums.

After the liberation of Paris by Allied forces in late August 1944, Monuments Man Capt. James J. Rorimer met with Rose Valland and the shared information, Valland had risked her life gathering, led to the discovery of multiple repositories of looted art, most prominently at Neuschwanstein Castle and would later be instrumental in the process of returning objects to their rightful owners.

Le Front de l’Art: Défense des collections françaises 1939-1945 inspired the 1964 Hollywood film, The Train, starring Burt Lancaster and Jeanne Moreau and - 50 years later - would inspire another Hollywood production.

“This book is dedicated to all those who fought during the last war to save some of the beauty of the World”. In writing this Rose Valland was thinking amongst others of all the Monuments Men and Women. Throughout her life, she championed the idea of an English translation that would make the book accessible to the anglophone public. Translated by Ophélie Jouan – an art historian and Rose Valland specialist, with financial support of Christie’s, The Art Front is now available in English from Laurel Publishing LLC, in a version prefaced by Robert M. Edsel, Founder and Chairman of the Monuments Men and Women Foundation.

Neuschwanstein, Germany, May 1945 The Monument Men recovering looted art by the Nazis.