In 1945, as the Red Army advanced into Germany, special “trophy brigades” went out to collect the slated works in German museums and ship them back to Moscow. As early as 1942, the Soviet Union, art lovers that they were, had begun a deliberate plan of collecting art from Germany. While there was no general authorization of the Allied Control Council to carry off German cultural property as a means of reparation or compensation, the Soviets openly ignored international law and regarded the vast amount of treasure and artwork pilfered from Germany as ‘compensation.’ Carrying off cultural property was only to be legally permitted for the purpose of “guarding against wartime dangers,” but this was the disingenuous excuse used by the Soviet Union for its massive looting operations. Sadly, the biggest theft of all, the most massive art heist of all times, the looting and plundering of German treasures has drawn scant, if any, media attention. Article 56 was seen as expressing the prohibition of any unilateral seizure of cultural property and putting an explicit limit to the prior practice of unlimited looting. Ironically, the Hague convention got its inspiration from disputes which arose from the Napoleonic Wars regarding Napoleon’s notorious plundering. German military leaders charged with war crimes at Nürnberg were charged with “destruction et pillage d’oeuvres d’art” based specifically on the violation of Article 56 of the Hague Convention of 1907 regarding war booty. Following their custom, they refuse to return it to its rightful owner: Germany. Now restored, it hangs in the Pushkin State Museum. In 2003, a Russian named Vladimir Logvinenko tried to sell it to a German gallery, but he was reported to Russian authorities who then acquired the painting. It ended up in a communist officer’s home and was later sold for pennies. It was cut from its frame, folded and rolled up, stored improperly and badly damaged. The Rape of Lucretia vanished in the Soviet Union after being stolen by the Red Army in 1945. One of the Ruben’s finest early works, Friedrich the Great bought it in 1765 for his collection and it hung in his palace at Sans Souci. Tarquin and Lucretia, above by Peter Paul Rubens, was painted between 16. The incident sparked a revolt led by Lucius Junius Brutus and Collatinus, resulting in Tarquin’s expulsion from Rome. She told her husband what had happened, then took her own life. Only Lucretia, wife to Collatinus, had been loyal and chaste while her husband was gone, but Tarquin’s son, Sextus, returned and raped her. The ‘Rape of Lucretia’ was a popular tale which detailed the downfall of Tarquinius: Roman soldiers away at war decided to return and surprise their wives. With Tarquin the Proud’s tyrannical reign as the last Roman monarch, Romans were eager to explore a new form of government: the republic. Eleonora may have installed Ercole’s exquisitely painted works in her own suite of rooms in the Castello Vecchio of Ferrara, refurbished about 1490.It is fitting to begin with a tale of rape. She explained that the wound was self-inflicted to confirm that she would be ready to endure death should the plan not succeed. Portia, the wife of Marcus Junius Brutus, demonstrates her bravery and fortitude by wounding her foot with a razor the evening before the attempt to assassinate Julius Caesar. Depictions of female worthies who exemplified virtues such as chastity, fidelity, and patriotism were inspired by the writings of ancient authors, such as Valerius Maximus, and Renaissance texts, especially Boccaccio’s On Famous Women (1361–75). Ercole de’ Roberti’s panel is one of three scenes of virtuous women that were likely painted for the duchess of Ferrara, Eleonora of Aragon. Ercole de’ Roberti spent the latter half of his career at the court of Ercole I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, painting altarpieces, small devotional works, portraits, and fresco cycles for the Este residences, as well as decorative projects.
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