BBC News Online: Entertainment

Family compensated for Tate's Nazi art

The UK Government is making the payment to compensate the unidentified family for the loss of Jan Griffier's View of Hampton Court Palace.

The painting was sold in Belgium after the family's father was killed in the Holocaust.

Announcing the payment, campaigner Lord Janner, who represented the family, said: "Whilst nothing can help the claimants recover the loss of their father and other relatives during the Holocaust and the suffering of their mother, the decision reached today helps restore at least some of their rightful heritage."

Decision welcomed

The decision was welcomed by Tate Gallery director Sir Nicholas Serota.

The family lodged their claim 18 months ago after discovering the painting had been bought by Friends of the Tate in 1961.

The compensation payment was recommended in the first report of Sir David Hirst's Spoliation Advisory Panel, which was set up 12 months ago to examine art claims relating to the Second World War.

Sir Nicholas Serota said:"Museums and galleries throughout the UK are acutely aware of the seriousness of this issue and wish to do everything in their powers to put things right, as far as they are able."

'Moral and just'

Lord Janner added: "The family and I are grateful to the Government and to the Tate for so speedily and honourably carrying out the recommendations of the report.

"I am pleased that this long-running saga has finally come to a moral and just ending."

Compensation for art looted by the Nazis or sold by Jewish families under duress is a major issue in the art world.

It is thought that many public galleries have unwittingly bought works that were appropriated by the Nazis.