Cornelius Gurlitt

Addressing a news conference in Augsburg, Germany, Berlin Free University art historian Meike Hoffmann said that the hundreds of artworks found at the Munich apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt span from the 16th to the 20th century. Hoffmann has been assigned to examine the spectacular find, and commented that the paintings and prints are in good condition, adding “it is of a very high value for art historians.” The trove includes works by Picasso, Marc Chagall, Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the German artists Max Beckmann, Max Liebermann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Carl Spitzweg, said Siegfried Klöble, the head of the Munich customs office, which oversaw the operation to recover the art. Many of the works were previously unknown, and there is little doubt that at least some of the works were part of the Nazi’s “degenerate” art exhibit.