The Spoliation Advisory Panel advises the United Kingdom Government on claims for cultural property looted during the Nazi era. The Panel is designated by the Secretary of State under Section 3 of the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009 to advise on claims made by former owners or their heirs (or in some cases, states or public bodies) for the return of, or compensation for the loss of, items that have come into the effective possession of institutions in the UK, for example artworks in the national collections. It deals with cases where the objects were allegedly lost through seizure or forced sales during the Nazi era, or through looting or other unlawful transactions during the Second World War. It provides non-binding recommendations for return or for

ex gratia (; also spelled ''ex-gratia'') is Latin for "by favor", and is most often used in a legal context. When something has been done ''ex gratia'', it has been done voluntarily, out of kindness or grace. In law, an ''ex gratia payment'' is a payment ...

payments. The Panel was established in February 2000 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as an advisory

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

under the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for Culture of the United Kingdom, culture a ...

(DCMS). It was chaired by Sir David Hirst until April 2010, when it was reconstituted as a group of expert advisers and Sir

Donnell Deeny Sir Donnell Justin Patrick Deeny , KC, SC (born 25 April 1950), styled as the Rt Hon Sir Donnell Deeny, is a mediator and arbitrator (ACIArb) and a former member of the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland. Sir Donnell is also member of the Cour ...

, a member from the outset, took over as chairman. Following a Review of the Spoliation Advisory Panel carried out from December 2014 - February 2015 by Sir Paul Jenkins the Government response broadly accepted the Jenkins Review as regards renewing the expert membership and the appointment of two chairs and 27 other recommendations. The current chairs are Sir Donnell Deeny and Sir

Alan Moses Sir Alan George Moses (born 29 November 1945) is a former Lord Justice of Appeal, a Court of Appeal Judge and the former chairman of Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). He is joint Chair of the United Kingdom's Spoliation Advisory P ...

Reports and Recommandations

In 2009 the Panel advised against restituting to the heirs of

Curt Glaser Curt Glaser (May 29, 1879 (Leipzig) – November 23, 1943 (Lake Placid, New York, USA)) was a German Jewish art historian, art critic and collector who was persecuted by the Nazis. Life Glaser's parents, the businessman Simon Glaser (1841– ...

eight drawings by Lovis Corinth, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Giuseppe Bernardino Bison, Giovanni Battista Crosato, Domenico Fossati and Domenico Piola.

Antoine Seilern Count Antoine Seilern (17 September 1901 – 6 July 1978) was an Anglo-Austrian art collector and art historian. He was considered, along with Sir Denis Mahon, to be one of a handful of important collectors who was also a respected scholar. Th ...

had acquired them at auction in 1933 and donated them to the

Courtauld Courtauld is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adam Courtauld Butler or Adam Butler (British politician), DL (1931–2008), British Conservative Party politician and MP *Augustine Courtauld (1904–1959), often called August Cou ...

in 1978 as part of the large "Princess Gates Bequest". In 2010 the Panel advised against restituting to the heirs of Herbert Gutmann (1879-1942) a sketch by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, ''The Coronation of the Virgin'', in the possession of the Samuel Courtauld Trust. According to the Panel, ''The Coronation of the Virgin'' was acquired in 1934 at an auction in Cologne by banker, Dr Richard von Schnitzler (1855-1938) and likely inherited by his daughter, Edith, wife of Baron Kurt von Schröder (1889-1966), a prominent Nazi. Schröder sold it to Stanley Loomis, who auctioned it at Sotheby’s in London on 2 July 1958, where it was purchased by Count Antoine von Seilern (1901-1978) who bequeathed it as part of the Princes Gate Collection to the Courtauld in 1978 In 2014 the Panel advised that it would have recommended restitution of a tapestry to the heirs of Emma Budge, but that the

Burrell Collection The Burrell Collection is a museum in Glasgow, Scotland, managed by Glasgow Museums. It houses the art collection of William Burrell, Sir William Burrell and Constance Burrell, Constance, Lady Burrell. The museum opened in 1983 and reopened on ...

is "legally unable to dispose of works, that the Collection is not covered by the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act". Burrell acquired the tapestry in 1938. The Panel wrote: "But for the restraint on disposal imposed by the Memorandum of Agreement, the moral strength of the claim and the moral obligation on the City would have persuaded the Panel that the appropriate redress was the restitution of the Tapestry to the Claimant." In 2015 the Panel advised against restituting to the

Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often ...

heirs a Renoir painting in the Bristol Art Gallery entitled '' The Coast at Cagnes, Sea, Mountains'', on the grounds that the painting had not been sold as a result of Nazi persecution but rather to settle an inheritance tax debt which pre-dated the Nazi rise to power. In 2015 the Panel recommended the restitution to the heirs of Baron Ferenc Hatvany of the Constable painting 'Beaching a boat, Brighton' in the Tate London. In 2016 the Panel advised against restituting to the heirs of Holocaust victim

Max Silberberg Max Silberberg (27 February 1878, in Neuruppin – after 1942, in Ghetto Theresienstadt or Auschwitz concentration camp) was a major cultural figure in Breslau, a German Jewish entrepreneur, art collector and patron who was robbed and murdered by ...

an ivory gothic relief in the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

sold at Paul Graupe Berlin auction on 12 October 1935.{{Cite web , last=Spoliation Advisory Panel , title=Report of the Spoliation Advisory Panel in respect of a Gothic relief in ivory, now in the possession of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford , url=https://www.lootedart.com/web_images/pdf2016/53629%20HC%20777%20v0.3%20%281%29%20%281%29.pdf

References

2000 establishments in the United Kingdom Art crime Art and cultural repatriation after World War II Government agencies established in 2000 Looting in the United Kingdom