Portrait of Joannes de Marschalck

Possibly a Saxon private collection, by 1932 [1];

Possibly Pavao/Pavle Ivan Bojanić(b. 1913), Berlin, on behalf of Ms. Hollander, 1947 or 1948 [2];

With Ante Topić Mimara, (1898-1987), Tangier, Morocco, as by Anthony van Dyck, by August 13, 1950-1957 [3];

Purchased from Topić Mimara by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1957.

NOTES:

[1] According to Ante Topić Mimara, in a letter to Patrick J. Kelleher, Curator of European Art, September 14, 1957, NAMA curatorial files.

[2] According to Topić Mimara, in a report by C. Vaughan Ferguson of the American Legation, Tangier, Morocco, to the U.S. Department of State, December 19, 1955, National Archives and Records Administration, RG260, M1946, Restitution Claim Records, Yugoslavia: Erroneous Restitution, NARA catalog ID 3725265, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files. Topić Mimara’s son, Nikolaus Topić-Matutin, in correspondence with MacKenzie Mallon, Provenance Specialist, November 23, 2015, described Bojanić as “a kind of ‘factotum’ of my father.” According to Ivan Ferenčak, in “Ante Topić Mimara’s Multifaceted Roles in Transferring Artworks Across Borders,” in Transfer of Cultural Objects in the Alpe Adria Region in the 20 ^th Century (2022), 457, Bojanić was arrested with Topić in May 1948 in Switzerland, on suspicion of espionage. During his deposition, he described himself as an antiquary and Topić Mimara’s chauffeur.

[3] The painting was attributed to Anthony van Dyck by art historian Friedrich Winkler. His handwritten authentication, dated August 13, 1950 and identifying Topić Mimara as the owner, is on the back of a photograph of the painting at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, Friedrich Winkler archives. For more on Topić Mimara generally, see especially Ferenčak 2022. Topić Mimara was an elusive figure who functioned at various times as an art dealer (including as a buyer for Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito), collector and a diplomat. What little is definitively known about him comes primarily from law enforcement records surrounding his arrests in France (June 1946) and Switzerland (May 1948) on suspicion of spying for the Soviets and currency smuggling, as well as documentation of his involvement in the erroneous restitution of 166 artworks to Yugoslavia from the Munich Central Collecting Point in June 1949. Photographs of this painting hanging in Topić Mimara’s Tangier apartment were included in the December 19, 1955, American Legation report (see note 2). With thanks to Mirna Megyeral for sharing her expertise on Topić Mimara with the Nelson-Atkins.