Credit lines serve as an acknowledgement of the source of an acquisition, which can range from purchases and gifts to loans and bequests. These acknowledgements often also serve as a crucial starting point for provenance researchers seeking to learn more about an object’s journey into the collection—and sometimes, we find surprises along the way that change the way we look at things.
For example, the credit line on the label for this 16th-century silver-gilt German beaker states it was received directly from the collector: “Gift of Rudolph Gutmann.”
To learn more about the arrival of any object at the museum, there are a number of key institutional sources that can be consulted, such as incoming receipts, curatorial files, donor-specific documentation, and archival documentation. From this beaker’s incoming receipt, we can see that the object arrived at the museum on May 21, 1956, as a gift from a Mr. Rudolph Gutmann, then located in Victoria, Canada.
Arrival at the museum
Receipt stating that the beaker is a gift to the museum
Photograph of the beaker showing its early condition
Gutmann (1880–1966) was a prominent art collector and industrialist in pre-war Austria. Along with his second wife, Marianne (1898–1986; born Freiin von Ferstel), Gutmann fled from his home in Vienna following the takeover of Austria by Nazi forces in March 1938. The couple’s art collection was seized and subsequently stored at the Central Depot for Seized Collections—or Neue Burg Zentral Depot—where they were catalogued and given an inventory number beginning with “GU” (Gutmann). Objects from the collection were then dispersed across the continent, having been either assigned to Austrian museums or auctioned off to new owners.
Looted art in the Alt Aussee Salt Mine in Austria
Photo of looted art after WW II, 1945
Photo of looted art after WW II, 1945
In our research, we came across documents that not only added to our understanding of the beaker, but allowed us to trace its provenance. These documents show that at the end of the war, Gutmann and his attorney advocated for the return of his collection. In 1948, these objects were “recovered, protected and restored to [him] by the American Occupation Forces in Germany,” after which Gutmann placed a number of works from his decorative arts collection on loan to the Art Institute. These loaned objects were shipped in a group of crates from Europe to Chicago, arriving in August 1948. Oswald Goetz, then-curator of decorative arts at the museum (who had himself escaped from Nazi Germany only a decade earlier) wrote to Gutmann to confirm their receipt, stating that “there was only one case that apparently had been in a salt mine and looked as if it had not been opened for many years.” A number of objects in the case showed some level of damage from damp and mold, with Goetz frankly stating that Gutmann would be unlikely to be able to make any claims for the damage given that “the box was standing in a damp place during the Nazi regime.”
While at the Art Institute, inventories were provided and created by both Gutmann and staff in connection with the loan. While far from exhaustive, a number of these documents are helpful for those attempting to research objects formerly in the Gutmann collection, as (where known) they include descriptions, measurements, and information regarding former owners, publications, and attributions.
List of objects loaned to the Art Institute in 1948
Our beaker is listed as object #34, described as “Goblet with cover.” Use the zoom tool to get a closer look.
Though some of these documents provided some clarity on the Art Institute’s acquisition, 16 of the 47 objects included on this list do not have any additional provenance, which was not unusual, especially for the time. As collections grow, owners may lose or forget provenance information. They may also have chosen to only include the information that they felt was particularly notable, such as association with a prestigious prior owner.
In 1956, when Gutmann felt that he was finally in a position to take over possession of the objects again, he concluded the loan, stating: “I was hoping that one day circumstances may permit to have the small collection with me again which I recovered badly depleted by theft after victory.” He allowed the museum to pick the object it best felt would fill the gaps in the collection, offering it as a “souvenir” of the loan.
Of course, all of this information can’t fit onto a label in a gallery. However, here is our most up-to-date provenance statement for the beaker, which is also available on the artwork collection page:
Rudolph Gutmann (1880–1966; also Baron Rudolf von Gutmann), Vienna, later Victoria, Canada, by Mar. 1938; confiscated by the Gesellschaft zur Verwaltung und Verwertung von Vermögenschaften m.b.H., Sept. 14, 1938 [Abschrift des Inventars der Sammlung R.G., object GU 665; Lillie 2003]; transferred to the Neue Burg Zentral Depot, Hofburg Palace; transferred to Alt Aussee, Austria; recovered by the Allies, by July 1945; transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, July 4, 1945; transferred to Salzburg, Austria, Aug. 7, 1947; restituted to Rudolph Gutmann, by Aug. 1948; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, May 21, 1956.
In this case, the story begins and ends with Rudolf Gutmann.
—Meadhbh Ginnane, senior research associate, Provenance Research
Learn More
Explore the descriptions of all the objects loaned to the Art Institute in 1948.
Read the provenance of another work from Rudolf Gutmann’s collection, a print by Andrea Mantegna.
Learn more about how provenance research unfolds at the Art Institute.
