Anonymous / School of Verona (1528–1588)
Italy, second half of the 16th century
Oil on canvas
76.5 x 106 cm
In the Old Testament, Abraham wishes to marry off his son, Isaac. He sends his servant Eliezer on a mission. Upon reaching a well, Eliezer prays that the woman who offers him a drink may be the chosen one. This woman is Rebecca. After a long period of infertility, she will have two sons: Esau and Jacob.
This work is attributed to the School of Verona. Towards the end of his life, this Venetian Renaissance painter abandoned large-scale compositions. He then turned his attention, as seen here, to landscapes and scenes of rural life.
‘Rebecca at the Fountain’ appears to be the final variation on another painting depicting a meeting near a source of water: ‘Jacob et Rachel au puits’ (Jacob and Rachel at the Well). Indeed, the way the figures pose are similar. The well, a symbol of life and fertility, is featured in several biblical narratives.
Compared with earlier works, the rendering of the figures lacks a certain fluidity. It is highly probable that the painting was partly executed by the members of the Veronese’s workshop and not only by himself.
‘MNR’ (National Museum Recuperation), on loan from the State, attributed by the ‘Office des Biens et Intérêts Privés’ (Office for Personal Property and Interests), 1955
What?!
A looted artwork in a museum???
During the Second World War, thousands of works of art were looted from their Jewish owners by the German army.
Many were shipped to Germany. At the end of the war, they were repatriated and some were returned to their owners. The others, such as this one, were entrusted to the care of the national museums, which in turn placed them on loan to provincial museums.
Designated by the acronym MNR, standing for ‘Musées Nationaux Récupération’ (National Museums Recuperation), these works have a particular status.
They must be exhibited to facilitate their identification. Consequently, all information supports and materials must mention this status and the provenance, in other words, ‘attributed by the “Office des Biens et Intérêts Privés” (Office for Personal Property and Interests)’, in reference to the institution that managed these assets after the war. MNR works must not leave French territory.
This painting was repatriated from Baden-Baden in January 1948 to the headquarters of the ‘commission de récupération artistique’ (Art Recovery Commission). It was allocated to the Louvre Museum (Department of Paintings) by the Office for Personal Property and Interests in 1951, and subsequently loaned to the Cahors Museum in 1955.
Why is this work not restored?
Only the owner can decide whether an intervention should be carried out on a work of art. Neither the State nor the museums that hold MNR works can act on the behalf of the owner. They cannot, therefore, carry out restoration operations.
Any eventual operations carried out on the works – which is thoroughly documented – is, therefore, limited to conservation measures, the only valid justification being to prevent their deterioration. This rule also aims to safeguard against the loss of any inscription or clue that may lead to the identification of the owners and enable them to recover these items to which they are rightfully entitled.
We must, however, emphasise that, whilst not endangering the works themselves, the passage of time can significantly deteriorate their state of presentation. Reaching a point where some museums, consider them unreadable, relegate them to their storage facilities. Consequently, only a digitised image remains available online, bearing witness to the existence of these MNRs. It is, therefore, legitimate to question the meaning of history: the less these works are displayed to the public, the less likely they are to be recognised by their rightful owners. Nearly 80 years after the end of the Second World War, many of them have passed away and their beneficiaries sometimes have very little information concerning the property looted from their families.
This is where lies the importance and the interest of the Mission for the Research and Restitution of Cultural Property looted between 1933 and 1945. It is evident that it still has a great deal of work to do before its task is complete.
The Mission of Restitution
Legally speaking, MNR items do not form part of France’s public collections. The State is their temporary custodian. Listed in specific inventories, they await restitution, with no statute of limitations applying.
Since 1951, of the 2,200 unclaimed MNR items, only 169 have been returned. In 2018, the Mission for the Research and Restitution of Cultural Property looted between 1933 and 1945 was established.
This coordination, management, and research service reviews files on a case-by-case basis, either at the request of the families or on its own initiative.
The Mission orchestrates the actions to identify the works and their owners, understand their history, present them to the public and return them. The Rose-Valland website provides access to the MNR catalogue.
During the war, the Stern family’s townhouse in Paris was looted and occupied by the Kriegsmarine. In 1947, at Darmstadt, the allies searched the home of a dance teacher who had served in the German navy. They found 13 works of art.
Handed over to the French authorities, six were returned to the Stern family, but the connection to the other seven could not be established; among them was a painting by the Flemish artist Mathys Schoevaerdt, ‘Place avec église, obélisque et passants’ (Square with a Church, Obelisk and Passers-by) or ‘Kermesse’ (Festival). Like ‘Rebecca à la fontaine’ (Rebecca at the Fountain), it was placed on loan to Cahors in 1955.
In 2020, the seven works of art were returned to Marguerite Stern’s beneficiaries.
