An unexpected Irish link has emerged in the ongoing worldwide project to identify the rightful owners of art looted by the Nazis during the second World War.

The London-based Art Recovery Group has announced that “a dispute over a painting looted in 1943 from an Irish-born art collector living in France has been resolved”. The painting, A Regatta on the Grand Canal by Italian artist Vincenzo Chilone (1758-1839), worth an estimated €80,000, was looted from John Jaffe’s collection by the Nazi-sympathising French government and had not been seen by the family for 72 years.

John Jaffe was a member of a prominent Jewish family in 19th-century Belfast who had moved from there from Hamburg and established one of Northern Ireland’s biggest linen-exporting businesses. His brother, Sir Otto Jaffe, was elected Belfast’s first Jewish lord mayor in 1899.

But John Jaffe and his wife, Anna (nee Gluge, from a Belgian Jewish family), moved to the south of France and lived in great style on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The wealthy couple, who had no children, amassed a major private collection of art and were noted philanthropists. In 1934, they were awarded the Légion d’Honneur by the French state for their numerous charitable donations and the honour was personally bestowed by the Mayor of Nice, Jean Médecin.

John Jaffe , then aged 91, died a few days later. In 1940 Germany invaded France and the Nazi-supporting Vichy government was established. Anna Jaffe died in 1942 – just before the deportation of Jews from France to the concentration camps began. According to Art Recovery Group, following her death, the Jaffe art collection, bequeathed to Anna’s niece and three nephews, was seized by pro-Nazi French authorities and auctioned in June 1943 in a “forced sale” at the Hotel du Savoy, Nice.

The descendants of Anna Jaffe, led by her great-nephew Alain Monteagle, who represents the 11 living claimants to the art collection, have been trying to track down the family’s looted art in recent years. In 1985 Chilone’s A Regatta on the Grand Canal tuned up at auction in London and was “purchased in good faith by an Italian collector” unaware of its history.

On notification of the historic claim attached to the painting, the purchaser contacted Art Recovery Group “to oversee the restitution process and to organise a just and fair resolution with the Jaffe heirs”. A spokesman for the Art Recovery Group, Jerome Hasler, said the family got the painting back after “an amicable resolution was agreed.” The family is now expected to sell the painting at auction in London.

Deterrent

Commenting on his family’s restitution efforts, Alain Monteagle said: “I’m often asked why we continue to look for looted works of art so long after the end of the war. Firstly, giving up would mean that Hitler and his accomplices have won in one of their aims.

“The Nazis tried to destroy an entire civilisation, a cultural treasure of mankind, but looking for these looted works helps us to understand our past and the lives of our families some of which have been lost forever.

“But more importantly, if we do nothing then what deterrent does that give for the art looters in many places in the world today? Why would they stop? Or even museums or dealers – why would they care that there are still blood stains on the paintings they buy?”

Art Recovery Group, a private company that offers “due diligence, dispute resolution and recovery for the international art market and cultural heritage sectors”, said they were “very pleased that the Jaffe heirs can have closure on a dispute spanning seven decades” and hoped that “this resolution will encourage the art trade to be more receptive in its recognition of Nazi-era claims”.