Rosenthal says end stolen art claims

Sir Norman Rosenthal (pictured), the former Exhibitions Secretary at the Royal Academy, has called for a statute of limitations on the restitution of artworks, claiming that the zeal to reclaim works stolen by the Nazis from German Jews, for example, is more often fuelled by auction houses out to "drum up trade" and rich people wanting to enrich themselves further.

Writing in the Art Newspaper, he says: "Of course, what happened in the Nazi period was unspeakable in its awfulness. I lost many relatives, whom I never knew personally, and who died in concentration camps in the most horrible of circumstances. I believe, however, that grandchildren or distant relations of people who had works of art or property taken away by the Nazis do not now have an inalienable right to ownership, at the beginning of the 21st century.

"If, because of provenance research, works of art … are then sold on for profit or passed around for political expediency, it is nearly always the rich who are making themselves richer. The vast majority of individuals, who were beaten up or killed during the Nazi period—or indeed by other oppressors in different parts of Europe—did not have art treasures that their children and grandchildren can now claim as compensation."

Although he does not mention Sotheby's or Christie’s by name, he says: "There is much market-driven hypocrisy buried within the subject of restitution. The art market encourages restitution from museums, which is particularly cynical and unpleasant — it is well known that lawyers and auction houses are trying to drum up trade in this way."

Sir Norman, who put on the famous Sensation exhibition at the RA, accepts that his view is "non-politically-correct" but feels stolen works, at least when in public hands, make up a "universal museum". He concludes: "It has to be good that important works of art should be available to all through public ownership. Restitution claims from museums go against this idea and result in the general culture being impoverished."