HERKOMST GEZOCHT, DEELRAPPORTAGE II
[ORIGINS UNKNOWN, INTERIMREPORT II]
october 2000
Foreword
This is the second interim report of the Herkomst Gezocht (Origins Unknown) project which deals with
the provenance of the 460 paintings which were researched over the past year. The report only
contains paintings because a new method has been developed for objects of applied art whereby
basic documentation is first drawn up for all the objects. 1,083 objects including 696 paintings and 387
objects of applied art from the total of 4,217 objects in the NK collection have been researched so far.
Once again, the Herkomst Gezocht project office, which operates under the supervision of the
Inspectie Cultuurbezit [Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage], has attempted to reconstruct the paintings’
whereabouts from the period preceding World War II up until the point in time that the works entered
Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit (SNK)’s [Netherlands Art Property Foundation] custody. Many
provenances continue to display marked lacunae. On the one hand, the fact that new archives are
becoming available helps fill in these gaps and on the other, these new archives mean that the
research time required for a single object has now become considerably longer than was expected
when the project started.
This is why the chairman of the supervisory committee turned to the Secretary of State for Culture in
December 1999 with the request that the project be expanded both in terms of time and staffing. The
Secretary of State has since promised the funds required in order to appoint two part-time
researchers, Mrs C. van den Donk and Mrs R. van Egmond and a document expert, Mrs C. Thoen and
to continue the project until late December 2002. This allows the provenance of all the objects in the
NK collection to be equally thoroughly examined. Moreover, the Secretary of State has given his
permission for the setting up of a website. The site will consist of all the data published pertaining to
the provenance of the objects in both English and Dutch and will be accessible via a database among
other things. The website is expected to be up and running by the Spring of 2001. The website will
also make it easier for the families of the dispossessed and foreign researchers to respond to the
information uncovered.
Only a few responses have been received with regard to the information published so far, possibly
because these were not very accessible due to the way in which they were presented. The crucial
moments during the war years in which the whereabouts of an object were unknown were underemphasised in the large mass of information. That is why the layout of the reports has been changed
so that it is now easier to see where a particular object was at a particular time. The date preceding
the location is displayed as Year/Month/Day. We hope that people who find clues in the data we have
published or have further information with regard to a particular painting or on owners will respond and
make their information available to the project. That is also why we have included photographs in this
interim report of those paintings of which the provenance has serious lacunae or of which the
processing by the SNK after the war is unclear to us. Incidentally, pictures of all the paintings are
included in the catalogue Old Master Paintings, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue, Zwolle, 1992;
which is referred to as ISC in the report. This catalogue can be accessed at public libraries, a large
number of museum libraries and the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie [Netherlands
Institute for Art History] in The Hague. Photographs of all the objects will be added to the Herkomst
Gezocht website.
In a while, the first results of the historical research into the manner in which Stichting Nederlands
Kunstbezit acted will be submitted to the supervisory committee. On the basis of this research the
committee will decide whether the recommendations it made occasioned by the pilot study have to be
expanded.
This interim report will be accessible at various locations* and can be requested free of charge (see
back flap).
On behalf of the Supervisory Committee
R.E.O. Ekkart
* These include Joods Maatschappelijk Werk, Amsterdam; Centraal Meldpunt Joodse Oorlogsclaims, Amsterdam; Stichting 4045, Amsterdam; the Library of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; de Koninklijke Bibliotheek [Royal Library], The Hague; het
Algemeen Rijksarchief [General State Archives], The Hague; het Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie [the
Netherlands Institute for Art History], The Hague; the Ministry of Finance, The Hague; the Ministry of Education, Culture and
Science, Zoetermeer.