1.  See R. Rand, Intimate Encounters, Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-Century France, exhibition catalogue, Hanover 1997, p. 101.

Also recovered and restituted by the Monuments Men is Francesco Guardi’s Venice, a view of the Piazzetta looking towards San Giorgio Maggiore (est. $200/300,0000), previously owned by French fashion designer and esteemed collector Jacques Doucet and his wife, whose legendary art collection at one time included Pablo Picasso’s famed Demoiselles d'Avignon. The painting was acquired by the French banker André Louis-Hirsch in 1912 and then looted frrom his widow by the ERR on 16 October 1941. As a means of cataloguing the stolen work, the ERR painted “Hirsch 8” on the back of the stretcher. Once recovered by the Monuments Men, the painting was sent to the Munich Central Collecting Point on 25 June 1945, before it was restituted to the original owners after 23 May 1946. This tranquil view of the Piazzetta was a subject revisited by Guardi on numerous occasions throughout the course of his career, each time varying the perspective and figure arrangements. Most closely resembling the present composition is a canvas in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, which, like the present work, is painted from a point at the far left of the square, close to the water. The present work was exhibited at the Detroit Institute of Art in 1952. 

Francesco Guardi (Venice 1712-1793), Venice, a view of the Piazzetta looking towards San Giorgio Maggiore. Photo Sotheby's

oil on canvas, 11 1/4 by 15 1/8 in.; 28.5 by 38.8 cm. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 USD

Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Doucet, Paris;
His sale, Paris, George Petit, 6 June 1912, lot 162;
André Louis Hirsch (acquired at the above sale);
Mme Louis Hirsch, 1933 (by inheritance from the above)
Confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), inv. no. Hir 8 (from box no. Hir 3), 16 October 1941;
Recovered by the Monuments Men and sent to the Munich Central Collecting Point, inv. no. 720/8, 25 June 1945;
Restituted to Mme Louis Hirsch after 23 May 1946;
With M. Knoedler & Co., New York;
From whom purchased by the family of the present owner.

Exhibited: Detroit, Detroit Institute of Art; Indianapolis, John Herron Institute of Art, Venice 1700 - 1800, 1952, no. 28 (lent by Knoedler).

Literature: Venice 1700 - 1800, exhibition catalogue, Detroit 1952, p. 33, cat. no. 28.

Note: This tranquil view of the Piazzetta was a subject revisited by Guardi on numerous occasions through the course of his career, each time varying the perspective and figure arrangements. Most closely resembling the present composition is a canvas in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan which, like the present work, is painted from a point at the far left of the square, close to the water, showing only the last two arches of the Palazzo Ducale and excluding the Libreria Sansoviniana at right.1 However, the Milan canvas, which Morassi dates to the 1770s, is squarer in format and shows only the left-most column, with the winged "Lion of Venice", but not the second column with Saint Theodore, the city’s former patron saint, as shown here.

The artist has chosen here to depict the scene at dusk, allowing him to display a virtuosic treatment of crepuscular light, turning the sky at right a warm pink, and casting long shadows from the Libreria Sansovinana, just outside of the pictorial field.  The last rays of the sun catch the right side of the cloud at the center of the composition and bathe the façade and campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore on the far side of the Bacino di San Marco.

When in the Doucet sale, this picture was offered with a pendant, a View of the Giudecca, which also subsequently entered the Hirsch sale. The pair was kept intact and both pictures were restituted back to Hirsch in 1946. 

1.  See A. Morassi, Guardi, i dipinti, Venice 1984, vol. I, p. 382, cat. no. 382, reproduced vol. II, fig. 404.

Apollonio di Giovanni’s Triumph of Marcus Furius Camiillus, a cassone Panel was confiscated by the ERR from the collection of Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s Château de Ferrières (est. $150/200,0000). The ERR marked the back of the painting with “BoR 58” to indicate its pedigree. The Monuments Men found the work at the Buxheim Monastery in Bavaria and returned it to the Rothschild family in 1946/7. Di Giovanni was much celebrated for his inventive designs of often secular subjects and his treatment of episodes from ancient history, such as that shown in the present panel; these were much sought after by 15th century Florentines, who proudly envisioned themselves as heirs to the democratic values of their Roman forebears. 

Apollonio di Giovanni (Florence, circa 1416-1465), Triumph of Marcus Furius Camiillus, a cassone Panel. Photo Sotheby's

tempera and gold leaf on panel, 16 3/4 by 63 1/3 in.; 42.5 by 161 cm. Estimate 150,000 — 200,000 USD

Provenance: Collection of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Château de Ferrières;
Seized by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg from the Chateau de Ferrières (inv. no. BOR 58);
In the holdings of the German Embassy, Paris;
Recovered by the Monuments Men at the Buxheim Monastery, Bavaria, and restituted to the Rothschild family 1946/7 (chest number 134);
From whom most probably acquired directly by the father of the present owner.

Note: Apollonio di Giovanni headed a thriving workshop specializing in the production of luxuriously decorated cassone and spalliere to meet the demands of Florence’s elite. The artist was much celebrated for his inventive designs of often secular subjects and his treatment of episodes from ancient history, such as that shown in the present panel; these were much sought after by 15th century Florentines, who proudly envisioned themselves as heirs to the democratic values of their Roman forebears.1 Cassoni were decorative chests customarily commissioned at the time of a marriage, and so lavish was their ornamentation that these luxurious items were affordable only to the most affluent of families. The chests were often carried in pairs as part of the bridal procession, from the house of her father to her new marital home, containing within items of her dowry, such as linens and cloth. The valuable cassoni were not only intended as extravagant gifts for the initial nuptial celebrations, they were also envisioned as future heirlooms and were typically displayed in the husband’s bed chamber, one the most important and intimate rooms in the home.2

The chest would be decorated with scenes from ancient history, the Old Testament, or from contemporary literature, such as Petrarch, Boccaccio or Dante.  The episodes depicted were expected to impart a moral message to which the couple and their family should aspire to follow and the subject would be carefully selected to reflect not only the family’s intellectual prowess but also their personal values.   Here, we see the triumphant return of Marcus Furius Camillus, riding in a standing position in the golden chariot; he can be identified by the remains of the inscription above his head, · M · F · CHAMMI[…].  The spelling of “Chammillus” reflects the soft pronunciation of the letter “c” in Florentine dialect and can be seen again in the inscription indicating the Campidoglio at left.  Camillus, a Roman soldier and statesman, was lauded for his four great victories against the Aequi, Volsci, Etruscans and Gauls, and was named “Second Founder of Rome” for his restoration of power following the sacking of Rome in 390 BC.3  Camillus was not only powerful and victorious but was fair, introducing pay for his army.  Conscious of the struggles of the plebeian class, he was an ideal moralistic model for the groom.  The Roman general is preceded in the procession by carriages laden with the spoils of war, a reference to the hopeful prosperity of the newlyweds.  Apollonio represents the city of Rome with a typically idiosyncratic approach to topography, juxtaposing its most famed and recognisable monuments, each labelled in an inscription above, in a charming attempt at persective.  

1.  C. Campbell, Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence: the Courtauld wedding chests, teachers’ resource, London 2009, p. 2.
2.  Ibid.
3.  "Marcus Furius Camillus", in Encyclopaedia Britannica, online academic edition, 2013.

George Clooney’s film adaptation of Robert Edsel’s book, “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History,” will be released in early February 2014 just after Old Masters Week.