Berthe Morisot

René de Gas, Paris (Estate sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Succession René de Gas, Novembre 10, 1927, lot.15) 
David David-Weill, Paris (inv. no. 30/60) 
Looted by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), registered under no. DW-Mod 44T
Intended for exchange (handwritten note  "Für Taucht") by the ERR, July 21, 1943
Private collection, Vienna
Sale: Vienna, Dorotheum, Jugenstil, Moderne Originale, Moderne Graphik, September 23, 1977, lot 1341 
Purchased at this sale by Friedrich Welz
Gifted to the Province of Salzburg 
Integrated into the collections of the Moderne Galerie und Graphische Sammlung Repertinum of Salzburg (subsequently renamed Museum der Moderne Salzburg) in 2003
Restituted to the rightful heirs of Flora et David David-Weill by the Salzburg Landesregierung on April 27, 2016

Paris, Galerie Dru, Quelques tableaux, études, pastels, aquarelles et dessins de Berthe Morisot, 1928, no. 19

Marie-Louise Bataille & Georges Wildenstein, Berthe Morisot, Catalogue des peintures, pastels et aquarelles, Paris, 1961, no. 478, illustrated fig. 462

Executed on blue wove paper, not laid down, hinged to the mount in two points along the upper edge. There are four mobile thin strips of plastic for mounting along each edge. The edges are deckled. There is an artist's pinhole to the upper left corner. The sheet is slighlty undulating relating to the application of medium. There are very faint scattered spots of foxing predominately in the lower part of the sheet and away from the composition. There are some handling marks to the edges. This work is in overall good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Restitution of a despoiled work by Berthe Morisot to the beneficiaries Flora and David David-Weill

Over 70 years after its confiscation by the Nazi authorities, the present pastel by Berthe Morisot was returned to the beneficiaries David and Flora David-Weill on April the 27^th 2016, ratifying the resolution adopted by the Salzburg Landesregierung in Austria on April 8^th 2015.

Kept until then in the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, doubts were expressed as to the work’s provenance in 2009 and the conditions in which it entered the museum’s collections. Research undertaken conjointly by Elizabeth Royer-Grimblat and Suzanne Rolinek showed that it was one of the works looted in France from the David-Weill family by the Nazi authorities on July 21^st 1943 and whose localisation was not identified. This research was thus able to establish that this pastel, which seemed to have disappeared for over three decades, had in fact reappeared in 1977 in an auction in Vienna at the Dorotheum where it was purchased by Friedrich Welz for 46 144 shillings for the account of the Moderne Galerie und Graphische Sammlung Rupertinum. Since 2003, the work has been a part of the collections of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg.

This delicate pastel drawing is a moving testimony to the art of Berthe Morisot, one of the rare women to integrate the circle of impressionist painters and to have participated in almost all the group’s exhibitions from 1874. Here she has depicted her niece, Jeanne Pontillon, who was a model for several of her works. It is characterised by the lightness and spontaneity of the facture which marks all her works as well as the quality of its graphic line, praised by Renoir and Degas. The present portrait, depicted in fresh tones, seems to have been caught in action and radiates with light. As Gustave Geffroy describes “the artist has found a means of fixing the shimmering of light produced by things and the air that surrounds them … pink, pale green, vaguely golden light, singing with an indescribable harmony. Nobody represents impressionism with a more refined talent, with more authority than Madame Morisot” (in “L’exposition des artistes indépendants”, La Justice, April 19^th 1881).