A balding man with a long white beard and large mustache sits with his hands clasped and the bejeweled Order of the Golden Fleece insignia—a sheep associated with Jason and Argonauts—around his neck.
The c. 1534 portrait of George the Bearded, the duke of Saxony, which is attributed to the major German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop, has been part of the collection of the Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania for nearly 65 years. It will soon go on a new journey, as the museum agreed to auction oil panel painting and settle a restitution claim with the descendants of a Jewish collector who was forced to sell it to flee from the Nazis.
“It was extremely important to the museum to engage in the ethical dimensions of the painting’s history in the Bromberg family,” stated Max Weintraub, the museum’s president and CEO. “This work of art entered the market and eventually found its way to the museum only because Henry Bromberg had to flee persecution from Nazi Germany. That moral imperative compelled us to act. We hope that this voluntary act by the museum will inform and encourage similar institutions to reach fair and just solutions.”
The Bromberg family stated that it is “pleased that another painting from our grandparents’ art collection was identified and are satisfied that the Allentown Art Museum carefully and responsibly checked the provenance of the portrait of George the Bearded, duke of Saxony and the circumstances under which Henry and Hertha Bromberg had to part with it during the Nazi-period.”
“After emigration to the United States, our grandparents first settled in New Jersey. After several years, they moved to Yardley, Pa., to be near their son Edgar and his family,” the family added. “This makes the fair and just solution for the painting in the Allentown Art Museum particularly special.”
In January 2025, the painting will go on sale at Christie’s.
The museum’s statement didn’t specify the arrangement, but the Associated Press reported that “the museum and the family will split the proceeds under a settlement agreement. Exact terms were confidential.”