Law & Politics
Cornelius Gurlitt Kept a Third Stash of Art in Austria
Sarah Cascone
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Cornelius Gurlitt’s seemingly unending supply of priceless artworks with shady provenances extends to a third stash, it seems, this one in the Austrian village of Bad Aussee, Styria, the Independent reports.
This third property is near the Roman salt mines used by Nazis to hide 6,000 works of art during World War II, as dramatized in George Clooney’s recent film The Monuments Men. Investigators believe that the home was used as a storage facility for the Gurlitt family as recently as 2012.
Cornelius Gurlitt’s father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, acquired many of his paintings from Jewish collectors during World War II when, despite his own Jewish heritage, he served as a Nazis party art dealer. The younger Gurlitt recently agreed to return any of the stolen artwork to the descendants (see report from artnet News).
The initial cache of paintings was discovered in Gurlitt’s Munich apartment in 2012. An additional 60 pieces surfaced at his second home in Salzburg. The third stash of 180 artworks appears to be linked to the house in Bad Aussee.
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