Spoliation Advisory Panel rules on return of Constable painting
Panel rules ‘Beaching a Boat, Brighton’ by John Constable currently at Tate should be returned to claimants
The Spoliation Advisory Panel has published a report on a claim against the Tate Gallery for the return of an oil painting ‘Beaching a Boat, Brighton’ by John Constable. After careful consideration the Panel’s opinion was that the claim was sufficiently strong to warrant a return of the painting by the Tate in accordance with the provisions of the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009.
The Panel concluded that it is likely that the Painting was in the ownership of a Hungarian art collector in 1944 at the time when the Germans invaded Hungary and that it was taken in the course of antisemitic persecution of the collector and his family by the German occupying forces.
The Spoliation Advisory Panel was designated by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport as the Advisory Panel for the purposes of considering the claim under Section 3(2) of the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009. The Panel was established in 2000.
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