Henry Bromberg
Henry Bromberg (1878-1971) was a German-Jewish judge, art collector, and victim of Nazi persecution. His family became known for its long campaign to recover artworks looted or forcibly sold during the Nazi era, including "Lady with a Fan" by Gerard ter Borch, restituted by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in 2025.
Early life and career
[edit]Henry Bromberg was a judge in Hamburg, Germany. He and his wife, Hertha (Bertha) Bromberg, were part of an extended German-Jewish family connected to the Emden family, who were also prominent art collectors and philanthropists in Hamburg. Together, Henry and Bertha Bromberg built an art collection that included several Dutch and Flemish Old Masters.[1]
Nazi persecution and exile
[edit]Following the rise of the Nazi regime in the 1930s, the Brombergs, like many Jewish families, faced persecution and economic dispossession. Their art collection was subject to forced sales and confiscations as part of the systematic “Aryanisation” of Jewish assets.
The couple fled Germany in 1938[2], emigrating to the United States in 1939.
Art collection and resitutions
[edit]In 2016 and 2018, the French Ministry of Culture returned two paintings to the Bromberg grandchildren during public ceremonies in Paris.[3][4] While fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938, the Brombergs sold a 16th century painting attributed to the school of Joos van Cleve.[5][6] In 2024, the Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania restituted a painting attributed to Cranach and his workshop,[7] in a settlement which involved the sale of the artwork and a share of the proceeds between the family and the museum.[8][9]
In October 2025, after twenty years of rejecting earlier restitution requests, the NGV announced that it had returned Lady with a Fan to the heirs of Henry and Hertha Bromberg. The Gallery stated that new evidence confirmed the painting had been owned by Dr. Henry Bromberg and was sold under duress in the late 1930s.[10]
According to the NGV, the painting was formally deaccessioned from its collection in 2025 and returned to the Bromberg family.[11] This was only the second Nazi-era restitution by an Australian museum, following the 2014 return of Head of a Man—also by the NGV.[1]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Visontay, Michael. "Australian gallery returns Nazi-looted artwork to Jewish family - The Jewish Independent". thejewishindependent.com.au. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
- ↑ Kuta, Sarah. "Museum Settles With Heirs of Jewish Couple Who Sold a 16th-Century Painting as They Fled the Nazis". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2025-11-16.
Henry Bromberg, who served as a judge in a magistrate's court in Hamburg, had inherited the painting from his father. After Adolf Hitler rose to power, the German-Jewish couple sold their collection and left Europe in 1938. The Brombergs arrived in the United States in 1939, living first in New Jersey and later settling in Pennsylvania.
- ↑ Bommelaer, Claire (2018-02-09). "Spoliation juive : une Crucifixion retrouve ses propriétaires". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-11.
- ↑ La-Croix.com (2018-02-13). "Restitution d'œuvres spoliées, « le triomphe du droit »". La Croix (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-11.
- ↑ "Restitution d'un tableau « Musées nationaux Récupération » (MNR) aux ayants droit de Hertha et Henry Bromberg | Ministère de la Culture". www.culture.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-11.
- ↑ "France Returns 16th-Century Portrait to Descendants of Jewish Couple (Published 2016)". 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
- ↑ "Porträt Georg dem Bärtigen, Herzog von Sachsen | Bildnis Herzog Georgs des Bärtigen v. Sachsen | Georges der Bärtige | Lost Art-Datenbank". www.lostart.de. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
Sammlung Ludwig Knaus, Berlin (Nachlaß), bis 30.10.1917; Auktion Lepke, Berlin 30.10.1917, Lot 14; Sammlung Martin Bromberg (und Erben), Hamburg, 30.10.1917 - 1932 - [1935 nach] 20.12.1938 (vor); Kunsthandel F. Kleinberger (Inhaber Allan Loebl) und Dr. Hans Wendland, Paris, vor 20.12.1938 - 29.05.1939 -; gekauft mit Mitteln der Charles Ulrick and Josephine Bay Paul Foundation (1961.005); Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania; 2024 haben das Allentown Art Museum und die Familie Bromberg eine gütliche Einigung über die Eigentumsansprüche der Familie erzielt.
- ↑ "Museum to Part With Cranach Portrait Sold as Owner Fled the Nazis (Published 2024)". 2024-08-26. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
"Portrait of George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony," by Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop. The painting, now held by the Allentown Art Museum, is to be sold as part of a restitution agreement with the heirs of a Jewish couple.
- ↑ Creative, James Nicnick, Kudu; Potash, Chris (2024-08-26). "Museum comes to agreement with heirs of Jewish collector who fled Nazi Germany". Allentown Art Museum. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Burke, Kelly (2025-10-17). "'Decision to do this secretly is surprising': NGV returns painting lost in Nazi era to Jewish family". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
- ↑ "Frau mit Fächer (Femme à l'éventail, probablement la femme du peintre) | Lost Art-Datenbank". www.lostart.de. Retrieved 2025-11-11.
Martin Rikoff-Verkauf, Galerie Georges Petit, F. Lair Dubreuil, Paris, 04.-07.-12.1907 (verkauft 04.12.), Nr. 22; dort erworben durch Galerie F. Kleinherger, Paris, 1907; von dieser erworben durch Martin (verst. 1918) und Eleonore Bromberg (geb. Kann, verst. 1927), Hamburg, 22.02.1908; durch Erbfolge an Henry Bromberg, Hamburg, 1927; erworben durch Ali Loebl (Galerie F. Kleinberger), Paris, spät. Dezember 1938; halber Anteil erworben durch Wildenstein & Co., London, 1938-44; von dort erworben durch National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1945; Rückgabe an die Erben von Henry Bromberg, 2025.
