Renaissance shield stolen by Nazis returned to Czechia by Philadelphia Museum of Art
A rare Renaissance shield, which was originally stolen by the Nazis from Konopiště Castle during the Second World War, is now being returned to the Czech Republic by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Representatives of both the museum and Czech institutions signed an agreement earlier this week, ending a several-year verification process.
The elaborately decorated pageant shield was made around the year 1535 in Italy. Its intricate decoration, depicting the Roman storming of New Carthage during the Second Punic War, is attributed to Girolamo di Tommaso da Treviso.
Originally held in Konopiště Castle, it was part of the d’Este family collection and was once held by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 would trigger the outbreak of the First World War.
After the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia more than two decades later, the shield was removed from the castle. The Nazis reportedly intended that it be displayed in the Führermuseum in Linz – an unrealised grand art gallery that was supposed to be built near Hitler’s place of birth.
It eventually found its way into the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as part of the coveted Carl Otto Kretzschmar von Kienbusch Collection, in 1976.
But 40 years after it was acquired by the museum, its director Timothy Rub opened up his inbox to find a message from the Czech Republic.
“I received an email from a government researcher in Prague who advised me about some new information that he and his colleagues had found which definitively traced the shield back to the armoury Konopiště Castle. I asked him whether he had documentation for that and we worked very carefully with him over the next year or so to confirm that information.
“Eventually, that allowed us to conclude that it had actually come from the collection of Franz Ferdinand’s armoury at Konopiště Castle.”
On Monday representatives of the museum and Czech officials jointly announced that the shield has been confirmed to belong to the Czech Republic and will be returned.
One of the participants was the general director of the Czech National Heritage Institute, Naděžda Goryczková.
“What makes this shield interesting is that it depicts the Roman storming of New Carthage, a scene that is relatively rarely covered in Renaissance art. The drawing itself, its detail, is created by scraping through the grey colour, beneath which is a layer of gold.”
Ahead of its journey back home to Konopiště, the shield has been boxed in a climate-controlled cover, to prevent any possible damage caused by the change in environment.
Timothy Rub says he has mixed feelings about the shield departing from the museum which served as its home for nearly half a century.
“I am very sorry to see a wonderful work of art leave our building where it could be seen by our visitors. We have had the object in our care for nearly five decades, so it is a sense of loss.
“However, at the same time, I feel a sense of pride that we have done the right thing and made the right decision about returning the object to the Czech Republic, because that is where it belongs.”
