An employee of the German Museum replaced a painting from a storage facility with a fake – and had the original auctioned off. For this, the Munich district court sentenced him to a prison sentence of one year and nine months on probation, as the court announced on Monday. The offense: illegal placing of cultural property on the market.
The confessed defendant was employed as a technical employee in the museum’s collection management from May 2016 to April 2018 and, according to the verdict, had access to the warehouse where paintings were kept. According to the court, he used this to exchange the painting “The Fairy Tale of the Frog Prince” – other sources give the title “Once upon a time” – by Franz von Stuck (1863-1928) for a fake. He offered the original for auction at the Munich auction house Ketterer-Kunst, which sold the picture to a gallery in Switzerland for 70,000 euros. According to the verdict, the now 30-year-old stated that the painting came from his great-grandparents or grandparents.
After deducting the auction costs, the sale brought the man 49,127.40 euros in cash. The employee also stole the paintings “The Wine Test” by Eduard von Grützner (1846-1925) and “Two Girls Collecting Wood in the Mountains” by Franz von Defregger (1835-1921) from the storage of the German Museum. He also had one of the paintings auctioned off, and he sold the other directly to the auction house, which brought him a total of another 11,490.50 euros.
In a fourth case, the defendant failed: According to the court, he tried to have the painting “Dirndl” by Franz von Defregger, which was also stolen from the museum depot, auctioned off at another Munich auction house. However, this did not happen due to a lack of a corresponding commandment. In total, the man collected 60,617.90 euros.
“The defendant used the money to pay off debts and finance a luxurious lifestyle,” the court said. “Among other things, he bought a new apartment, expensive wristwatches and bought a Rolls-Royce.” According to the information, the man not only made a confession in court, but also showed “honest remorse and insight.”
“He stated that he had acted without thinking. He could no longer explain his behavior today,” the court reported on the verdict of September 11th, which, in addition to the prison sentence, also ordered the confiscation of the money that the man had taken with his earned money from illegal activities. The judgment is final.
When asked, the German Museum did not want to comment in detail. Since the house is still trying to return the pictures, this is an ongoing process, a spokeswoman said. It is not unusual for valuable paintings to be found in the technical museum’s collection. The collection contains many works of art that came, for example, from foundations and inheritances that went to the German Museum.
According to its own online documentation, the Ketterer-Kunst auction house auctioned the painting together with other works in May 2017 under the title “Once upon a time”. The work dates from 1891 and once belonged to the well-known collection of Arthur von Franquet, who died in 1931. The provenance was simply stated: “Private Collection Southern Germany”.
A spokeswoman confirmed the auction. In principle, works are extensively checked for authenticity and origin beforehand – also in cooperation with the State Criminal Police Office. However, this is a “case of fraud”.