| Genre | Painting |
| Materials | Oil on cardboard |
| Size | 27 x 20,2 cm |
| Signature | signed bottom left: AvW. 1882 |
Restored with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung
Research status
Provenance has been established. The painting has been identified as a cultural asset extorted from the owner in a context of Nazi persecution (Nazi looted art). A fair and just solution must now be agreed upon with his the heirs.
The clue is in the phone number
When Anton von Werner died in 1915, this little study of a French soldier was still in his possession. It was probably done at his studio in the villa that still stands at Potsdamer Strasse 81a. In 1886 he transferred the motif to his painting “Prisoners of War”, acquired by the Berlinische Galerie from a private owner in 1977.
The painting “Prisoners of War” by Anton von Werner. The French infantryman from the study is in the middle.
Anton von Werner, Kriegsgefangen (Oktober 1870), 1886
© Copyright has expired, Repro: Kai-Annett Becker
In 1979 the Berlinische Galerie acquired a heliogravure, probably from an edition published around 1900 by Franz Hanfstaengl in Munich. It demonstrates the popularity of this scene from the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/71.
Heliogravure of the painting "Kriegsgefangen" by Anton von Werner
© Repro: Anja Elisabeth Witte“French Infantryman with Kit” came to the Berlinische Galerie from the estate of Waldemar Grzimek (1918–1984). The Berlin-based sculptor had created a collection for study purposes. He did not record where he acquired most of the items, and the sketch by Anton von Werner is no exception. However, fragments of a sticker on the back of the painting gave researchers their first lead. As it turned out, the telephone number had once belonged to art dealer Johanna Ohlhoff (1880–1961). The address Gieselerstrasse 13 in Wilmersdorf in the Berlin telephone directory for 1940 tallied with the few remaining letters still legible on the sticker.
The first significant clue to the art dealer Johanna Ohlhoff was uncovered in 2023 thanks to a project devoted to German Sales Institutions, which is funded by the German Research Foundation and based at the Berlinische Galerie.
Remains of a permanent sticker on the back of the painting. The few details offer a promising lead for research.
Anton von Werner, Französischer Infanterist mit Marschgepäck (Soldat in voller Montur), 1882 (Back, Detail)
© Repro: Kai-Annett Becker
The phone number on the back of the painting laid the trail to an entry for Johanna Ohlhoff in the Berlin telephone directory for 1940.
Telephone number in the Berlin telephone directory, 1940
© Repro: Zentrale Landesbibliothek Berlin, Public DomainAfter the link between the painting and Johanna Ohlhoff was published, researchers at the Brandenburg State Archives in Potsdam were able to make a key contribution to tracing the provenance of the oil sketch. Sifting through the files of the Director of Taxation in Berlin and Brandenburg at the time, they came across papers relating to the expropriation of a merchant in Berlin who had been persecuted as a Jew since 1933. His possessions, including artworks by Anton von Werner, had been auctioned off on 6 May 1941 by a company in Berlin called Union.
At this auction, a painting entitled “French Infantryman” was purchased by someone named “Ohlhoff”. This detail led convincingly to Johanna Ohlhoff. The above-mentioned merchant had packed a consignment of possessions for removal, but between March and May 1941 the entire consignment had been confiscated and auctioned off by the Gestapo and the tax office in Moabit-West with the aid of the auction house Union. This operation qualifies as an extraction of assets in the context of Nazi persecution. Consequently, the little study of a French soldier included in the haul is to be regarded as Nazi looted art. The first steps have now been taken to return the painting to the family of the Berlin merchant.