4th International Provenance Research Day 2022

Starting in 1900, the landscape and historical subject painter Eugen Bracht (1842-1921) undertook several study excursions to Plattenburg in the Prignitz region, where he discovered the motif for his painting “Das Quitzow-Schloss” [Quitzow Castle]. On the nearby Kletzke estate he had come across the ruins of the moated fortress of Kletzke, also known as Quitzow Fortress. In numerous sketches and notes recorded on site, he captured the ruins in a range of lighting moods and perspectives before finally completing the large-scale oil painting in 1902 in his studio on Brühl’s Terrace in Dresden. In 1902 Eugen Bracht was appointed to direct the master class in landscape painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden—he had held the post of professor for landscape painting at the Berlin School of Fine Arts since 1883.

According to Eugen Bracht’s register book, in the very year of its creation the painting was acquired by the Berlin citizen of independent means Henriette Haas (+ 1904) (See Großkinsky, Manfred, “Eugen Bracht. Impression und Inszenierung“ [Eugen Bracht: Impression and Enactment] in the exhibition catalogue to “Exquisit. Kunst des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die Schenkung Jan und Friederike Baechle” [Exquisite: Art of the 19th Century. The Gift of Jan and Friederike Baechle], Museum Wiesbaden, ed. Peter Forster for the Museum Wiesbaden, Munich 2020, pp. 70-76).

An initial exhibiting of the painting in the Rhine-Main region is documented for the period August to September 1902: the official illustrated catalogue of a painting exhibition in Worms lists “Quitzow Castle” under catalogue No. 54. The Wiesbaden art historian Mela Escherich wrote a glowing and lengthy report of the exhibition in the journal Monatsberichte über Kunstwissenschaft und Kunsthandel [Monthly Reports on Art Studies and the Art Trade], mentioning the two paintings by Bracht in the exhibition, “Windmill” and “Quitzow Castle”. The picture had obviously been sent by the artist from Dresden to Worms, as also documented by the paper label adhering to the reverse of the painting, that records “Professor Bracht, Dresden” as the sender.

Eugen Bracht Anniversary Exhibition

At the latest by 1912, the painting is recorded as being in the possession of Ottilie Wallot (1869-1946), the daughter of Paul Wallot (1841-1912), architect of the Reichstag. Eugen Bracht and Paul Wallot had been friends since their time together at the Darmstadt Vocational College in the 1850s. The catalogue of the Eugen Bracht Anniversary Exhibition, staged in 1912 by the Free Association of Darmstadt Artists on the Mathildenhöhe, lists “Fräulein Ottilie Wallot, Wiesbaden” as owner of the painting “Quitzow Castle”. In a list of “pictures from private collections and from galleries” The exhibition records preserved in the Darmstadt city archives likewise record that “Fräulein Tilli Wallot in Wiesbaden-Biebrich” had made the painting available on loan.

Middle-Rhenish Painting 1800–1900

From May to June 1939, the painting was in the Nassau State Museum in Wiesbaden as part of an exhibition on “Middle-Rhenish Painting 1800–1900” and is listed in the accompanying catalogue under No. 46 with the title “Quitzow Fortress” and as being on private loan. A “Listing of Loans in the Municipal Art Collection from 1932,” discovered in the Museum Wiesbaden’s old registry, lists under serial No. 105 a landscape by Eugen Bracht on loan from “Frl. Wallot of Wiesbaden.”

It may be assumed that after the end of the exhibition in June of 1939—possibly as a result of the outbreak of war—the painting was not collected by the lender and thus remained on the museum’s premises, even after 1945.

Exquisite - Art of the 19th century. Donation Jan and Friederike Baechle

After over 80 years, and after being restored between November 2020 and September 2021, the painting was finally exhibited in the Museum Wiesbaden as part of the exhibition “Exquisit. Kunst des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die Schenkung Jan und Friederike Baechle” [Exquisite: Art of the 19th Century. The Gift of Jan and Friederike Baechle] The painting’s restoration in the Museum Wiesbaden was sponsored by the Ernst von Siemens Art FoundationOpens in a new window within the framework of the “Corona Funding Line for the Self-employed in Museums and Collections”, last accessed 07.04.2022.

The accompanying catalogue text likewise describes the “rediscovered” painting for the first time after many years. Information on its provenance could be complemented by important details provided by the Central Office for Provenance Research Hesse, such that expropriation as a result of National Socialist persecution can be excluded.
The reason for conducting provenance research on the painting was that it was part of a mass of hitherto uninventoried art works, stored in a separate depot of the Museum Wiesbaden, that had entered the institution under largely unknown circumstances. For the most part, these works consist of submissions from private individuals, transferences from ministries and municipal authorities, and pictures that had entered the museum, probably as loans in connection with exhibition projects.

Ettle Cellar

The former temporary storage place for this mass of works was the so-called “Ettle Cellar”. The name originates from the time when the museum was used by the American military government as the Central Collecting Point (CCP) for art works. Starting in 1945, works were probably stored in the “Ettle Cellar” that had been in the possession of Wilhelm Ettle, the Frankfurt art dealer who had been involved in dealing with cultural assets expropriated as a result of National Socialist persecution. On the initiative of the CCP, several objects from this mass of works were returned to their rightful owners. At the time, expropriation as a result of National Socialist persecution could not be established for many of the art works, such that in 1952 these were returned to Wilhelm Ettle. Nevertheless, the designation “Ettle Cellar” clearly remained current in the museum long after the depot was dissolved in 1952.

Given Wilhelm Ettle’s history of dealing in art looted by the National Socialists, it was necessary to establish the provenance of Eugen Bracht’s “Quitzow Castle”, especially for the years 1933 to 1945. As already stated, starting in 1912 the painting was in the possession of Ottilie Wallot, who was not in danger of being persecuted by the National Socialists. A connection between the painting and Wilhelm Ettle can be discounted, and expropriation as a result of National Socialist persecution thus excluded.

As Ottilie Wallot died in November 1946 in Wiesbaden, the assumption, according to the current state of research, is that at that time the painting was on loan to the Museum Wiesbaden from Ottilie Wallot’s estate.

Miriam Olivia Merz, Larissa Engle