sels7

Hello all,

I was hoping someone would be able to help with identification of this portrait. The story is as follows:

Before WWII, my great-grandfather Moritz was a wealthy man. At their home in Czechoslovakia they had, to my knowledge, a Rembrandt and a Turner, as well as other beautiful works of art. Moritz fancied himself a collector of fine art. When his son Otto was married in December 1933, Moritz gave him as a wedding gift only this painting. It was supposedly of high value since it could serve as the single gift. When the Nazi’s invaded, Otto hid this painting before fleeing to Poland then France where he fought in the British Army. After the war, he recovered it. The rest of the art was stolen by the Nazi’s and never recovered.

Years later, a close friend of Otto asked to borrow this painting so that he could learn to paint better by copying it. After some time, Otto demanded it be returned and he found that his ‘friend’ had for unknown reasons rubbed the signature off the painting. Otto kept this painting until he passed away, when it was willed to me, his grand-daughter. Even though he cherished the painting, he could never remember the artist.

Portrait-1

The picture is a scan of a photo taken of this painting. (The crease in the middle and in other places is not on the actual canvas, its from my folded color photocopy.) The scanner wasn’t large enough to scan the entire picture, so I scanned the center. There's about an inch+ missing from the picture on each side, but it is just continuation of the background.

If anyone might know the artist, or have a direction for me to go in searching for it, I’d really appreciate it.

Sels