“We are at a point in this war that poses the greatest threat to humanity’s greatest historical achievements.”
Here George Clooney speaks during World War II in “Monuments Men,” a film in which he plays art historian Professor Frank Stokes, based on the real Lt. George Stout.
Lt. Stout was part of a group of “art officers” dedicated to protecting, rescuing and restoring Europe’s cultural heritage. The corps of just 17 people was formed in December 1944 – the Monuments Men.
I am looking at them now and through their eyes in the exhibition “Monuments Men” at the Château de La Roche-Guyon. It runs until November 24, 2024.
This castle, located in a village 75 kilometers northwest of Paris, is a suitable location for the exhibition because it was taken over during the Nazi occupation of France in March 1944 and used as the headquarters of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel for six months.
The French La Rochefoucauld family, who owned the castle, had an extensive art collection and the Monuments Men organization recognized the castle as a particularly important site that needed to be protected.
This exhibition was put together by Matteo Grouard, a 23-year-old historian of the Second World War. The subtext of the exhibition is to make new generations aware of the importance of preserving cultural heritage during wars.
The exhibition in the beautiful and immaculately preserved castle on the banks of the Seine is also part of the official celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of France at the end of the Second World War.
There are witness statements, objects, archive documents, photos and mannequins in uniform – everything together tells the story.
And some of these stories are personal, like that of US Lieutenant James J. Rorimer, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Before the war, Lieutenant Stout had pioneered new techniques for art conservation at Harvard University’s Fogg Museum.
They were among 345 men and women from 13 nations who volunteered to serve in the group. Among them were art historians, museum curators and others trained to identify and care for works of art under the difficult conditions of war.
Although their powers were limited, they were still able to track down a large amount of stolen art.
An advertisement in the exhibition states that the Nazis looted 650,000 works of art between 1933 and 1945.
Between 100,000 and 400,000 are still missing.
However, of the 100,000 works of art looted during the occupation of France, the Allies were able to recover 61,233. By 1950, 41,770 had been returned to their owners and 2,200 had been entrusted to the French national museums.
Perhaps the greatest discovery was the discovery of the panels of the Ghent Altarpiece (Adoration of the Lamb of God) by the Van Eyck brothers, completed in 1432 and considered one of the greatest works of art in the world. The Nazis confiscated it and it was destined for Adolf Hitler’s Führermuseum.
Lt. Stout found it in the Altaussee salt mine in Austria, just before Hitler’s order to blow it up was carried out. He didn’t want the art to fall into the hands of the Allies.
I saw it in Ghent Cathedral – thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of the Monuments Men.
MONUMENTAL THOUGHTS
+ The film is based on the non-fiction book “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves And The Greatest Treasure Hunt In History” by Robert M. Edsel from 2007.
+ One of Switzerland’s leading art museums, the Kunsthaus Zürich, is removing five paintings from one of its exhibitions while it investigates whether they were Nazi-looted art.
The works are by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Gustave Courbet and are part of the Emil Buhrle Collection, named after a German-born arms dealer who made a fortune manufacturing and supplying weapons to the Nazis during World War II.
+ The Monuments Men and Women Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising global awareness of the Monuments Men and Women, honoring them for their achievements, and completing their unfinished mission of returning missing works of art to their owners. monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org
+ The Chateau de La Roche-Guyon opens daily at 10am. Admission is €9.50, including the “Monuments Men” exhibition. The La Rochefoucauld family has carried out extensive renovations on the château, preserving this elegant 18th-century residence with its graceful combination of architectural styles that capture the essence of the Age of Enlightenment. On a hill above the château is a fortified keep that has stood since the 12th century. It is connected to the lower château by a tunnel through the rock. The village of La Roche-Guyon is located in a bend of the Seine, 10km east of Vernon. chateaudelarocheguyon.fr/english/chateau-en.
