Watching the unfolding of the every detail of information just held me spellbound. I just love the detail and the knowledge of people. The symbols on the back of the painting were as interesting as the painting itself. There was a sticker that appeared very Nazi influenced - wings. But was not the Nazi symbolism. However, there was symbol of fasces - a little bundle of rods containing an ax with the blade projecting, borne before Roman magistrates as an emblem of official power. And this is where the word Fascist was borne. You see how much little detail there is to learn about the world. It's just endless and incredible.
If only I had had as much interest all those years ago when instead I was ensconced in hedonism and escape.
Fiona and Philip have taken me to some most incredible places, people and knowledge. hey took the painting, of course to Amsterdam (oooh pangs for JH) where I was introduced to Ernst van de Wetering. He is considered the world's foremost expert on Rembrandt and his work. Well it was just stunning to watch him and his team. Instantly he saw the painting he knew it was 1600's but he also knew for certain it was not a Rembrandt. He did feel strongly that it was likely to be a student of Rembrandt. Here I learnt more about the studios of the time and the ways in which students copied Rembrandt's paintings. The x-rayed this painting and under the paint it was possible to see the original sketches and previous painting. Philip said that we were seeing the artist making corrections and perfecting towards the end result. Correcting as he went along. Fiona and Philip had already established in the wonderful art archives ( I missed where this is actually held) that the model was used often bt Rembrandt and often portrayed as Rembrandt's father. But apparently he was a studio model.
Oh mys eeeing all the paintings of Rembrandt. I remember being spellbound looking at them. Holding my breath at times, when I was in the Rijkes museum in Amsterdam. What a moment to behold such stunning work.
Back ....
Portrait of Isaac de Jouderville
Studio model often portrayed as Rembrandt's father AND the same man in the painting we are tracing.Gradually piecing this all together, the painting suddenly becomes valued at £20,000. Fiona and Philip are finally able to meet the said owner of the painting. He is informed of course of the theft from the Oppenheimer's but that it has also been discoverd that the Opopneheimers had given it to a bank as payment for a loan. However, the bank no longer exists and it is then believed that the Nazi's had plundered the art of the bank. The documentary episode explained how Goring had stored so much valuable art for himself. As did Hitler. Goring in fact had ordered that the stolen art was divided between himself and Hitler. Poland, Russia, as well as, the Jewish collections were all plundered. Approximately 20% of the art in Europe was looted by the Nazis, and there are well over 100,000 items that have not been returned to their rightful owners. The majority of what is still missing includes everyday objects such as china, crystal or silver.
Tragically much work was destroyed too. The Third Reich decalred modern art degenerate art and it was order to be destroyed. Alarming!!!!
(I wonder if it was, maybe a soldier here and there kept something for themselves and it's been passed down the families - as with this painting. It was Herr somethings grandfather's and Herr whatshisname had inherited from his mothers estate. Fiona was bold enought to ask if his grandfather had been a Nazi to which he said no!!) Now of course Herr oojiflipp was in a situation when Fiona on TV asked if he was prepared fotr the painting to be returned to it's rightful owner if that person or organisation could be traced. He had to say yes. Of course I am sure that was all rehearsed before hand. The programme is a BBC drama documentary after all.
Well I have just been thrilled by the education and another complete absorption into the world of art. I love it.
The Oppenheimer family is a study all in istelf ......
The Oppenheim(er) family was a very old family with branches throughout Europe. Some family members achieved great fame and fortune.
Heidelberg was a University town in the grand duchy of Baden, Germany. Although Jews were recorded as living in Heildeberg in 1253, The elector Rupert II. expelled all Jews in 1390. But From the middle of the fifteenth century onward Jews were regularly received in Heidelberg under comparatively favorable conditions. There was a very small Jewish in Heidelberg. In the middle of the seventeenth century (1600's) , 5 members of the famous Oppenheimer family were living there. In 1704 thirteen Jewish families were living at Heidelberg, Some members of the Oppenheimer Family moved to Frankfurt am Main and Vienna and became extremely wealthy Court Jews and Bankers.
The Oppenheimer / Oppenheim Families are descended from Samuel Wolf OPPENHEIMER also known as Samuel Heidelberg.
Samuel was born in Heidelberg., so he was from, one of the very few Jewish families who lived in Heidelberg.
He moved to Vienna, and became a Court Jew to Emperor Leopold and Banker , imperial court factor, He enjoyed the especial favor of Emperor Leopold., to whom he advanced considerable sums of money for the Turkish war. When Austria was embarrassed by its depleted exchequer on the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1701, Samuel Oppenheimer and his two sons, together with the most important commercial houses of Germany, took charge of the commissariat of the imperial forces in Lombardy, the Upper Rhenish states, Tyrol, Bavaria, and Hungary. After his death in May 1703, the imperial government put his estate into bankruptcy, plunging all the stock exchanges with which Oppenheimer had been connected into a serious crisis, especially the Frankfurt stock exchange and all its brokers.
Another descendant of this family was the famous Joseph Süss Oppenheimer (1690-1738) who held the office of court factor to Prince Karl Alexander von Württemberg in Stuttgart. His mother was also a Frankfurt resident, and Jud Süss Oppenheimer often spent months in Frankfurt, where he owned a commodious house outside the Judengasse. Lion Feuchtwanger based the historical novel "Jud Süss" on Oppenheimer.
Professor J. Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the Atomic Bomb was also a descendant of this family
Samuel Oppenheimer.is the 17th Great Grandson of Rashi related through his Grand Mother Frummet BALLIN to Yocheved Bas SHLOMO Rashi's Daughter
Marc Heymann is the 9th Great Grandson of Samuel Oppenheimer.
Another member of this Heidelberg family Reb Joseph Oppenheimer from Heidelberg is Marc Heymann's 4th Great Grandfather.
He was the 7th Great Grandson of Rabbi Judah Loew the Maharal of Prague and the 3rd Great Grandson of the Chavas Yair Rabbi Chayim Yair Bacharach.
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