RIHA Journal 0285 | 15 September 2023

Göring’s Collection of Antiquities at Carinhall

Laura Puritani

Abstract
This article deals with some ancient objects from the collection of leading National Socialist Hermann Göring that are on loan to the Berlin Antikensammlung from the Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Originally, they were stored or displayed at Carinhall, Göring’s estate ca. 60 km from Berlin, where he kept his precious works of art. The antiquities were not the most important part of his collection. However, some interesting questions arise about the provenance of the objects and the reasons why he displayed certain archaeological objects in Carinhall.

Introduction

[1] This paper focuses on the antiquities from the former possession of “Reichsmarschall” Hermann Göring (1893–1946) which are currently stored at the Antikensammlung of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin1. These 42 objects are on loan to the Antikensammlung from the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany)2. They make up only a tiny percentage of the works of art that Göring owned3: according to the online database “Die Kunstsammlung Hermann Göring”of the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German History Museum, Berlin), his collection comprised at least 4,263 objects4.

Fig. 1. Carinhall, Hermann Göring’s estate some 60 km northeast of Berlin, courtyard with modern bronze deer, 1930s (photograph: bpk-Bildagentur, no. 100100689)

Göring stored most of his works of art, which he began to collect in the 1930s, in Carinhall, located about 60 km northeast of Berlin, in idyllic countryside. There, in 1933, he built a hunting lodge, which, after several large extensions in 1936–1937, became Göring’s official domicile (Fig. 1)5.

Göring’s collection at Carinhall

[2] Historical photos of the interiors and important documents like the 1940 inventory register (“Inventarverzeichnis Carinhall vom 01.02.1940”)6 show that Göring was interested especially in paintings but also collected other objects. He focused on works of Lucas Cranach and on “German and Dutch paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries”, on “Dutch paintings from the 17th century”, and on “French paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries”7. Finally, he also collected valuable tapestries, sculptures, and furnishings. Göring profited, among other ways, in the compilation of his collection from confiscations in the territories occupied by German troops. Among his works of art were also objects of Jewish ownership.

[3] In April 1945, Göring ordered a Captain Frankenberg to destroy the estate of Carinhall in order to prevent its capture by the Soviets8. “Frankenberg poured petrol” and spread bombs over all of the interior, and “when the first Soviet” troops “approached Carinhall, he blew up the estate” and utterly destroyed it9. A couple of months before, however, some of the works of art had been transported to Burg Veldenstein10, near Nürnberg, where Göring had a bunker built for his most important collections11. Not all the works of art were moved, however; many stayed in Carinhall and were in part damaged by the explosions.

Identifying the antiquities in Göring’s collection

[4] From 2013 to 2016, I undertook a project to investigate and document the objects of so-calledunknown ownership (Fremdbesitz) held by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB), which are part of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK)12. The term “unknown ownership” is used for objects that do not belong to the SPK and whose provenance is uncertain. During the course of this research, I identified 42 archaeological objects from the former collection of Hermann Göring.

[5] Why are there objects from Göring’s collection in the Berlin Antikensammlung? They entered the museum mainly in two ways: First, the so-called Zentralstelle zur Pflege und Erhaltung von Kunstwerken (Center for the Care and Preservation of Works of Art), founded in 1945, played an important role. Under the direction of Adolf Jannasch and later Kurt Reutti, the center had the important task of collecting works of art that had been abandoned during the war13. The Zentralstelle collected the works of art that remained at Carinhall and handed over some of the antiquities to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin around 194714 (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Women clean a Roman sarcophagus (Antikensammlung SMB, SL 3.2-2, Lei 43) in the open air at the Museumsinsel in Berlin, about 1947 (photograph: Zentralarchiv, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1.1.1/03539)

A second group of objects from Göring’s collection came into the Antikensammlung in 2000. More than 4,000 vase fragments were transferred from the Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Museum (Fig. 315). These fragments belonged to vases that were still inside the buildings (probably the bunkers) at Carinhall when the structures were destroyed; they were gathered in part by the “treasure hunter” Claus Funke and in part during regular excavations conducted by the Brandenburgisches Landesamt in the 1990s at Carinhall16.

Fig. 3. Fragments of an Attic black-figure column crater, 520–500 BC, clay. Antikensammlung SMB, Berlin, on loan from the Federal Republic of Germany, without inventory number (photograph: Kunstverwaltung des Bundes / Ingrid Geske)

[6] In order to reconstruct the provenance of the objects transferred from the Zentralstelle in 1947, it is important to consider several sources. This is because in 1947, when the objects entered the Antikensammlung, in most cases the provenance of Carinhall was not noted in the inventory register of the museum.17. The first source to consider is the documentation by Reutti, the director of the Zentralstelle, including original reports from the 1940s and photos of the objects18. The second source is the historical photos of Carinhall. For the project, photos from the database “Die Kunstsammlung Hermann Göring” of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin19, and from the bpk Bildagentur20, as well as photos from the Library of Congress21 and the Bundesarchiv22, played important roles in the reconstruction of Göring’s antiquities collection. Helpful were also some photos from private collections kindly provided by the director of the Jagdschloss Schorfheide in Groß Schönebeck, Helmut Suter. The third source is the inventory lists of Göring’s collection, discussed below.

[7] As far as the methods for associating objects with Carinhall are concerned, an important resource was the vase collection in the Antikensammlung, which could be compared with the thousands of vase fragments from Carinhall that were handed over to the museum in 2000 (see Fig. 3). It was hard work for the conservators and scholars of the Antikensammlung to order and identify these tiny fragments. They eventually discovered that several of them belonged to vases that came into the Antikensammlung in 1947—for example, the Attic black-figured neck amphora Y 102 (Fig. 423).

Fig. 4. Attic black-figured amphora, 520–500 BC, clay. Antikensammlung SMB, Berlin, on loan from the Federal Republic of Germany, Y 102 (photograph: Kunstverwaltung des Bundes / Ingrid Geske)

[8] Analysis of the above-mentioned sources reveals that the antiquities did not constitute the most important part of Göring’s collection. He was much more interested in paintings than in archaeological objects. In the so-called “Inventarverzeichnis Carinhall vom 01.02.1940”, only five marble sculptures are mentioned that are probably ancient, as well as a mask from Centuripe and eight bronze copies of ancient sculptures24. In the “Inventory of Göring’s Art Collection“ (also called the American inventory), which lists the objects of Göring’s collection that were stored in Unterstein, Berchtesgaden, where Göring had owned a house since 193325, there are only eight ancient marble statues26. In the “Inventaire Göring“ kept at the French Foreign Office, no antiquities are mentioned27. In the historical photos of Carinhall, only a few archaeological objects can be detected: three cases with ancient vases (see, for instance, Fig. 5) and a few marble statues and sarcophagi indoors, and bronze copies of ancient statues outdoors.

Figs. 5, 6. Carinhall, interior (photographs: bpk-Bildagentur, no. 10008805)

[9] Only a few of these objects in the photos are stored in the Antikensammlung, and most of the objects from Carinhall in the Antikensammlung are not documented in the photos. For example, an interesting historical photo shows an exhibition case at Carinhall in which antiquities are on display (Figs. 5, 6). One of these objects, a Boeotian kantharos, can be matched with a kantharos in the Antikensammlung (inv. 33141; Fig. 728). We also identified that one of the 4,000 fragments found at Carinhall and handed over in 2000 belongs to this vase. Thus, both the photo and the fragment confirm the provenance from Carinhall.

Fig. 7. Boeotian kantharos, end of the 5th – first half of the 4th century BC, clay. Antikensammlung SMB, on loan from the Federal Republic of Germany, 33141 (photograph: Kunstverwaltung des Bundes / Ingrid Geske)

Provenance of Göring’s antiquities

[10] As far as the provenance of the antiquities in Göring’s collection is concerned, some were once Jewish property, but Göring also bought objects on the art market. Seven vases come with high probability of, or are confirmed as, being from one of the Rothschild collections in Paris29 (Fig. 8), and one vase is from the gallery of the Jewish art dealers Bacri Frères in Paris30 (Fig. 9). With the exception of a Greek krater, which is only partly damaged, all the vases are broken into pieces.

Fig. 8. Attic black-figured amphora, ca. 520 BC, clay. Antikensammlung SMB, on loan from the Federal Republic of Germany, Lei 36 (photograph: Kunstverwaltung des Bundes / Ingrid Geske)

In 1940, Maurice de Rothschild (1881–1957), who was mentioned by the famous vase specialist John Beazley as the owner of five vases now on loan to the Antikensammlung from the Federal Republic of Germany, was deprived of his German citizenship because of his Jewish origins31. It is well-known that his family was persecuted during the German occupation of France and that their thousands of works of art were confiscated by different organizations of the Nazi regime32. The Societé Bacri, a Paris art gallery, specialized in textiles, but also dealt in other categories of works of art. Documents in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, DC, and reports by Rose Valland, French curator at the Jeu de Paume and key member of the Allied team identifying works of art to be repatriated at the end of World War II, confirm that many works of art belonging to Bacri Frères were confiscated by the ERR (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg)33. Only fragments of the above-mentioned Bacri vase are preserved in the Antikensammlung (Fig. 9). Comparing them with a photo of the entire vase published in Répertoire des biens spoliés en France durant la guerre made it possible to identify the vase34.

Fig. 9. Fragments of an Attic black-figured amphora 540–530 BC, clay. Antikensammlung SMB, on loan from the Federal Republic of Germany, Y 101 (photograph: Kunstverwaltung des Bundes / Ingrid Geske)

[11] It is not clear how the Rothschild and Bacri antiquities came into the Göring collection. During my project, I checked many lists, including the documents of the ERR and of other state offices of the Nazi period (for instance, the German Embassy in Paris), but, unfortunately, no entries for these vases could be found. However, it is possible that art dealer Sepp Angerer played an important role, as suggested by the interrogation of Göring’s secretary, Gisela Limberger, by the US authorities in 1945. When the American officer asked her, “Do you believe that Angerer purchased these art objects from Bacri and Rothschild?”, Limberger answered, “I do not think so. I don’t know how he got them—I only remember he came to Karinhall with those things and I got the list to check up on the things he brought. I think this was in 1941 and later on he himself told me, –No, I do not want to do such things—I deal only in carpets–”. When the officer asked again: “Your impression is that these things that he acquired from Rothschild and Bacri were not necessarily purchases, that they may have been taken?”, she answered, “I think so”35.

[12] With regard to the objects that Göring bought on the art market, the case of a Roman sarcophagus purchased from the Italian dealer Ugo Jandolo is particularly well documented36 (see Fig. 2). On the back of a photo in the Bundesarchiv Koblenz that shows this sarcophagus is written “Hofer by Jandolo Rome 1942 for 120.000 lire”37. Walter Andreas Hofer (1893 – probably 1971) was “Direktor der Kunstsammlungen des Reichsmarschalls” since 194138. He was not Göring’s employee but worked as a freelance art dealer39, as documented by his sale ledgers40. We do not know to what extent Hofer generally influenced the choice of works of art bought by Göring. In the case of the lion sarcophagus, however, he played a very important role, as the following letter confirms:

Jandolo, Rome. After protracted negotiations I acquired the magnificent Roman sarcophagus with the two great lions in half relief [...] The owner of the sarcophagus had meanwhile learned from the dealer who had the sarcophagus on consignment that the piece was intended for you & suddenly no longer wanted to sell! Of course, this should serve the crook only as a pretext to induce me to offer a much higher price. After days of negotiations, I acquired both objects at the original price of L. 100.000.- for the sarcophagus [...], plus 10% agreed brokerage fee. The sarcophagus is far more beautiful & important than the one you purchased from Brasini in the spring, in addition, except for unimportant trifles, preserved flawlessly, it will give you great pleasure41.

[13] Today, there are three other Roman sarcophagi in the Antikensammlung, which also passed through Carinhall. Archival documents prove that they were once in Goering’s possession42. However, in the documentation, there is no description nor photo of these pieces, making it hard to assign them to a respective record and provenance. It is possible that they came from the property of the attorney Gino Merghieri (Rome), of the Roman art dealer and architect Armando Brasini, or of another Italian art dealer whose contact was arranged by Angerer43. Two of these sarcophagi, one with lions and a hunting scene and one with Dionysiac motifs, are not ancient works, but may have been sold to Göring as originals44.

[14] Only for one object from Göring’s collection of antiquities, which are now in the Antikensammlung, a provenance from the German art market could be verified. In the case of a marble portrait of a young woman, probably Vibia Matidia45, sister of the empress Sabina, the annotation on a photo in the Bundesarchiv Koblenz mentions the acquisition on 10 March 1941 from the prominent Munich art dealer Julius Böhler46 for the price of 4,500 Reichsmark47. The former owner of the portrait was Hugo Liebermann-Rosswiese, a Jew who was baptized a Protestant in connection with his second marriage in 191248.

Göring’s tastes and collecting motivations

[15] In the gardens and outdoor spaces at Carinhall, there were several bronze copies of ancient statues, for instance the so-called Terme Ruler or Hellenistic Prince49, the Venus Colonna, the Apollo Belvedere, the Apollo Kitharoidos, the Ares Ludovisi, and the Artemis Versailles50. Indoors were copies of the Artemis from the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum and of Athena Lemnia51. Whether the copies corresponded solely to Göring’s personal taste or he was influenced by or mimicking the accepted National Socialist admiration of Greek art remains an open question. It is possible that Göring was inspired by the “Sport der Hellenen” exhibition, which opened on 29 July 1936 to mark the occasion of the Olympic Games in Berlin and showed ancient bronze statues in addition to other ancient works of art and copies52.

[16] The location of objects inside Carinhall was changed frequently, as photos show. It is not possible to identify an exhibition concept or why certain objects were on display. One of Göring’s interests was lions: He kept several baby lions at Carinhall, as is well documented by many historical photos. The Reichsmarschall bought among others two lion sarcophagi (see Fig. 2), which he presented in prominent places53. A statue of Kybele with lions on display in Carinhall can also be connected with Göring’s interest in these animals54. Furthermore, Göring decorated Carinhall with several statues of Aphrodite (in the big hall, in the bedroom, and in the garden) and other naked women55. Many paintings with female nudes also confirm Göring’s interest in the beauty of the female body56. In the case of a geometric amphora (today Antikensammlung, Berlin, inv. no. 32028)57, it is clear why Göring displayed it in his Jagdhalle: the vase is decorated with swastikas, a symbol of Nazi ideology.

Conclusion

[17] This short overview of the antiquities from Göring’s Carinhall, some of which are on loan to the Berlin Antikensammlung, shows that there are still questions that cannot be answered. We hope that this publication will stimulate further research and that we may gain more information about the provenance of these objects as well as a fuller understanding of the role of ancient objects in the collecting practices of Göring as a central figure of the Nazi elite.

Acknowledgments
I want to thank Christina Haak, Andreas Scholl, Ursula Kästner, Petra Winter, Carola Thielecke; the curators, the photographers, and the conservators of the Antikensammlung; and colleagues from the Kunstverwaltung des Bundes, Marianne Czisnic, Eva-Maria Krell, and Heike Impelmann, for their support during the project. Furthermore, I want to thank Irene Bald Romano, Elizabeth J. Asborno and Andrea Lermer for improving my English text.

Special Issue
Irene Bald Romano, ed., The Fate of Antiquities in the Nazi Era, in: RIHA Journal 0282-0294 (15 September 2023), DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/riha.2022.2.

License
The text of this article is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

1 Laura Puritani, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.Dokumentation des Fremdbesitzes, vol. 3: Antikensammlung. Antiken aus Carinhall aus dem Eigentum der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Berlin 2017.

2 These 42 objects are administered by the Kunstverwaltung des Bundes (Federal Art Administration), https://kunstverwaltung.bund.de/DE/Home/home_node.html (accessed 10 March 2022).

3 Nancy H. Yeide, Beyond the Dreams of Avarice: The Hermann Goering Collection, Dallas 2009, 8. According to Albert A. Feiber, the first acquisitions date from the period after the First World War: Albert A. Feiber, “Hermann Göring als Kunstsammler”, in: Ilse von zur Mühlen, Die Kunstsammlung Hermann Görings. Ein Provenienzbericht der Bayerischen Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich 2004, esp. 26. On the Göring collection, see also Hector Feliciano, Das verlorene Museum. Vom Kunstraub der Nazis, Berlin 1998, esp. 34-43; Volker Knopf and Stefan Martens, Görings Reich. Selbstinszenierungen in Carinhall, Berlin 1999; Günther Haase, Die Kunstsammlung des Reichsmarschalls Hermann Göring. Eine Dokumentation, Berlin 2000; Anja Heuß, Kunst- und Kulturgutraub. Eine vergleichende Studie zur Besatzungspolitik der Nationalsozialisten in Frankreich und der Sowjetunion, Heidelberg 2000, 73-94; Ilse von zur Mühlen, “Hermann Göring als Kunstsammler”, in: Inka Bertz and Michael Dorrmann, eds., Raub und Restitution. Kulturgut aus jüdischem Besitz von 1933 bis heute, exh. cat., Berlin 2008, 141-147; Nikola Doll, Mäzenatentum und Kunstförderung im Nationalsozialismus. Werner Peiner und Hermann Göring, Weimar 2009, esp. 172-201; Hanns Christian Löhr, Der eiserne Sammler. Die Kollektion Hermann Göring. Kunst und Korruption im “Dritten Reich”, Berlin 2009; Kenneth D. Alford, Hermann Göring and the Nazi Art Collection. The Looting of Europe’s Art Treasures and Their Dispersal after World War II, Jefferson, NC 2012; Leonie Schwarzmeier, Der NS-verfolgungsbedingte Entzug von Kunstwerken und deren Restitution, Hamburg 2014, esp. 86-95.

4 Database “The Hermann Goering Art Collection” [2012], Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, https://www.dhm.de/datenbank/goering/dhm_goering.php?seite=9 (accessed 3 March 2022) (hereafter, “Goering Art Collection” [2012]). The antiquities stored in the Antikensammlung are not the only ones from Göring’s collection. However, the number of the archaeological objects in general is very small in comparison with the paintings and other objects collected by Göring.

5 Erwin Nippert, Die Schorfheide. Zur Geschichte einer deutschen Landschaft, Berlin 1993, 17-18; Knopf and Martens (1999), 25-28, 51-71.

6 On this inventory register, which is a collection of different object lists, see Puritani (2017), 114.

7 Haase (2000), 11; “Goering Art Collection”.

8 Knopf and Martens (1999), 128; Löhr (2009), 72.

9 Haase (2000), 156.

10 Among the objects transported from Carinhall, there were also antiquities; see, for instance, Bundesarchiv, Koblenz, hereinafter: BArch B 323/69, fol. 140.

11 Löhr reconstructed the phases of the transport in detail: Löhr (2009), 71-72, 75 with further bibliography.

12 Puritani (2017).

13 Irene Geismeier, Gemäldegalerie. Verzeichnis der in der Galerie eingelagerten Bilder unbekannter Herkunft, Berlin 1999 (= Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Dokumentation des Fremdbesitzes: Gemäldegalerie), 13, 62; Knopf and Martens (1999), 154; Anne Buschhoff, Ernst Barlach – Kaviar statt Brot: Kurt Reutti, Sammler und Stifter, exh. cat., Leipzig 2001, 18; Dorothee Grafahrend, “Sicherung im Dienste der Kunst. Kurt Reutti und die Werke ‘entarteter’ Kunst in Güstrow und Rostock”, in: Meike Hoffmann, ed., Ein Händler “entarteter” Kunst. Bernhard A. Böhmer und sein Nachlass, Berlin 2010 (= Schriften der Forschungsstelle “Entartete Kunst”, 3), 133-150: 134-137; Maike Steinkamp, “‘Eine Rückführung an die Museen ist dringend erforderlich ...’. Kurt Reutti und der Umgang mit ‘entarteter’ Kunst nach 1945”, in: Maike Steinkamp and Ute Haug, eds., Werke und Werte: Über das Handeln und Sammeln von Kunst im Nationalsozialismus, Berlin 2010, 213-231: 214-215. The Zentralstelle belonged to Museen und Sammlungen of the Abteilung Volksbildung beim Magistrat von Groß-Berlin. The first director of the Zentralstelle was Adolf Jannasch; Kurt Reutti became director in 1947, see Buschhoff (2001), 18; Nicole Wähner, Die “Zentralstelle zur Erfassung und Pflege von Kunstwerken” des Magistrats von Groß-Berlin – Kunstbergung in Berlin nach dem 2. Weltkrieg, Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des Titels der “Diplom-Archivarin”, FH Potsdam 2002 (unpublished).

14 Puritani (2017), 138-139 cat. B.5.

15 On this vase, see Puritani (2017), 146-148 cat. B.13.

16 Claus Funke presented his finds from the Carinhall bunkers on a website that was active until December 2013, http://www.bunker-ig.de/. Among these “treasures” were also vase fragments, which he handed over to the Brandenburgisches Landesamt.

17 The provenance from Carinhall could be reconstructed in some cases by the former curator of the Antikensammlung, Ursula Kästner, before my project started. In fact, in the archive of the Antikensammlung, there were some lists with objects transferred from the Zentralstelle in 1947. During the project, however, we found out that not all objects handed over by the Zentralstelle came from Carinhall.

18 Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz (GstA PK), VI. HA Familienarchive und Nachlässe, Nl Kurt Reutti nos. 1-7. This documentation is now available online: http://archivdatenbank.gsta.spk-berlin.de/midosasearch-gsta/MidosaSEARCH/vi_ha_nl_reutti_k/index.htm (accessed 5 August 2019).

19 See “Goering Art Collection” (2012).

20 See bpk Bildagentur. Image Bank of Cultural Institutions, https://www.bpk-bildagentur.de/?LCID=3 (accessed 3 March 2022).

21 Library of Congress, Washington, DC, https://loc.gov/ (accessed 4 March 2022).

22 Bundesarchiv, Koblenz, “The Digital Picture Archives of the Federal Archives”, https://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/dba/en/ (accessed 4 March 2022).

23 On this amphora, see Puritani (2017), 170-171 cat. B.34.

24 Puritani (2017), 114. See Irene Bald Romano, “Collecting Classical Antiquities among the Nazi Elite“, RIHA Journal 0283, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/riha.2022.2.92736, Figs. 7 and 8 for images of some of the copies.

25 Löhr (2009), 19.

26 Puritani (2017), 114.

27 I want to thank Sven Haase for this information. Puritani (2017), 114.

28 I want to thank Bernd Zimmermann for identifying this vase. On this vase, see Puritani (2017), 167-168 cat. B.31.

29 On the vases from the Rothschild collections in Paris, see Puritani (2017), 123-129, 140-145, 148-149.

30 Puritani (2017), 119-123, 133-135.

31 Anja Heuß, Kunst- und Kulturgutraub. Eine vergleichende Studie zur Besatzungspolitik der Nationalsozialisten in Frankreich und der Sowjetunion, Heidelberg 2000, 107.

32 On the Rothschild collections in Paris, see Puritani (2017), 123-129 with further bibliography.

33 Emmanuelle Polack and Philippe Dagen, Les carnets de Rose Valland: le pillage des collections privées d’œuvres d’art en France durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Lyon 2011, 7, 8 n10, 63, 69. On Bacri Frères see also Puritani (2017), 119-123; furthermore Camille Freyermuth, “Bacri Brothers (EN)”, transl. Judith Andreyev, (3 March 2022), in: Répertoire des acteurs du marché de l’art en France sous l’Occupation, 1940–1945, http://agorha.inha.fr/detail/271 (accessed 17 February 2023).

34 Puritani (2017), 133-135; Répertoire des biens spoliés en France durant la guerre 1939–1945, tome 2: Tableaux, tapisseries et sculptures, Berlin 1947; https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Espace-documentation/Bases-de-donnees/Fiches-bases-de-donnees/MNR-Historique-de-la-publication/Acces-au-Repertoire (accessed 20 February 2023).

35 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, DC, M1922 roll 74: “Interrogation of Gisela Limberger by E.E. Minskopff”, 15 September 1945.

36 Puritani (2017), 138-139 cat. B.5. Ugo Jandolo belonged to a well-known family of dealers of antiquities in Rome; he was a son of Augusto Jandolo and brother of Alessandro Jandolo.

37 BArch B 323/66, 127. Original text in German: “91 2,10 m. In Carinhall geblieben. Dch. Hofer bei Jandolo—Rom 1942 gekauft für L. 120.000”.

38 Andrea Hollmann and Roland März, Hermann Göring und sein Agent Josef Angerer. Annexion und Verkauf “Entarteter Kunst” aus deutschem Museumsbesitz 1938, Paderborn 2014, 68. On Hofer’s career, see BArch B 323/70, 10-13.

39 Haase (2000), 24-26; Hollmann and März (2014), 68.

40 BArch B 323/71, 20-55.

41 English translation from “Spotlight on the Object: Person, Place or Thing”, a virtual exhibition of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, https://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/spotlight-objects-spk/#s10/3 (accessed 7 March 2022). Original letter: “Jandolo, Rom. Nach langwierigen Verhandlungen erwarb ich den prachtvollen roemischen Sarkophag mit den beiden grossen Loewen in Halbrelief ... Der Besitzer des Sarkophages hatte inzwischen von dem Haendler, der den Sarkophag in Kommission hatte, erfahren, dass das Stueck fuer Sie bestimmt war & wollte ploetzlich nicht mehr verkaufen! Natuerlich, sollte das dem Gauner nur als Vorwand dienen, mich zu veranlassen, einen weit hoeheren Preis zu bieten. Nach tagelangen Verhandlungen erwarb ich beide Objekte zum urspruenglichen Preis von L. 100.000.- fuer den Sarkophag [...], plus 10% vereinbarte Vermittlungsgebuehr. Der Sarkophag ist weitaus schoener & wichtiger als der von Ihnen im Fruehjahr von Brasini erworbene, dazu bis auf unwichtige Kleinigkeit fehlerfrei erhalten, er wird Ihnen eine grosse Freude bereiten”. Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historical Monuments in War Areas (The Roberts Commission), 1943–1946, “Subject Files”, compiled 1944–1946, documenting the period 1940–1946, Contini – Bonacossi – Goering, National Archives (US), Catalog id 1537311, NARA M1944, roll 0088, 43 (retrieved 26 February 2021).

42 Puritani (2017), 137-138 cat. B.4, 161-162 cat. B.25, 162-164 cat. B.26.

43 National Archives (US), Catalog id 1537311, NARA M1944, roll 0088: Hofer, 28 October 1942: “1 Sarkophag, Marmor, römisch, II. Jahrhundert nach Christi. Erworben von Advokat Gino Merghieri, via parma 22, Rom. Der Sarkophag steht bei Spediteur Otto & Rosoni, 33, piazza di Spagna, Rom”; NARA M1947, roll 0082, in the list of objects Göring purchased from Brasini: “Sarkophag, römische Kaiserzeit, Marmor”. The dating of the following sarcophagus is unsure (ancient?): National Archives (US), Catalog id 3725274, NARA M1946, roll 0127: Notiz “25. Nov. 1941. Termin: Angerer Carinhall”, “Sarkophag, Italien 600.000 Lire”.

44 Antikensammlung SMB, Sk 1969: Puritani (2017), 161-162 cat. B.25; Antikensammlung SMB, Sk 1970: Puritani (2017), 162-164 cat. B.26.

45 Hans Rupprecht Goette, “Weiblicher Porträtkopf, Vibia Matidia, Schwester der Sabina?”, in: Andreas Scholl, ed., Katalog der Skulpturen in der Antikensammlung der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Band I: Griechische und römische Bildnisse, Petersberg 2016, 258-259 no. 170.

46 On his “Kunsthandlung”, see Puritani (2017), 130-131 with bibliography. See also the project “Dealers, Collectors and Museums: The Julius Böhler Art Gallery in Munich, Lucerne, Berlin and New York. Cataloguing and Documentation of Art Bought and Sold, 1903–1994”, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, https://www.zikg.eu/forschung/projekte/projekte-zi/kunsthandlung-julius-boehler/julius-boehler-art-gallery-in-munich-lucerne-berlin-and-new-york (accessed 20 February 2023).

47 BArch B 323/66 108.

48 Puritani (2017), 130-131, 135-136. I want to thank Anita Stelzl-Gallian, Richard Winkler, Meike Hopp, Stephan Klingen, and Erich Glantschnig for the information about this portrait’s provenance.

49 This copy is now on display in the Abguss-Sammlung Antiker Plastik (Cast Collection of Ancient Sculptures) of the Freie Universität in Berlin: Puritani (2017), 117, 164-165 cat. B.27.

50 On the statues in the garden, see also Puritani (2017), 117.

51 See Romano, in this special issue (as n24), paragraph 17.

52 See Romano, in this special issue (as n24), paragraph 4.

53 Antikensammlung SMB, Sk 1969: Puritani (2017), 115 fig. 7, 116 fig. 9, 161-162 cat. B.25. Antikensammlung SMB, SL 3.2-2 (Lei 43): Puritani (2017), 117 fig. 11.

54 Puritani (2017), 116.

55 Puritani (2017), 116.

56 von zur Mühlen (2004), 69; Puritani (2017), 116 with further bibliography.

57 Puritani (2017), 165-166 cat. B.28.