Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873)

When Emperor Napoleon III announced his decision to marry Eugénie María de Montijo de Guzman, Comtesse de Teba in 1853, the imperial family, European royalty and French aristocrats expressed their dismay.

The new director of the Condé Museum of Chantilly has clear, coherent and ambitious plans to revive the period of the Duke of Aumale.

Dusseldorf City Council voted to return the painting to the heirs of Kurt Grawi, a Jewish entrepreneur and banker, persecuted by the Nazis. The painting was sold in New York to fund an escape from Germany. This could establish a precedent for the restitution of art sold outside of Nazi-occupied Europe. (Hyperallergic)

Die Füchse (Foxes) will be returned to the heirs of its former owner by the city of Düsseldorf. Its unusual providence – sold at auction in New York in 1940 – means it may set a new precedent on what it means to have sold under duress, even “outside the Nazi sphere of influence.” (Spiegel)

New paperwork was requested and a criminal complaint instigated against the board in Düsseldorf, Germany, who had recommended it be returned. Die Füchse (Foxes) is valued between 18 million and $36 million and was in the process of being returned to Kurt Grawi’s heirs, after being taken by the Nazis in 1935. (ARTnews)

A portrait of the emperor discovered in Luchon is being restored in Toulouse. Dating from 1855-1856, it is "the largest existing copy" of the portrait executed by Franz Winterhalter, kept in the Louvre. Lacerated by squatters, the work has been offered to the city of Luchon by its owner. 

He and his brother Hans, childhood friends of Beuys, amassed one of the most important collections of the German artist. The former art professor and director of the Schloss Moyland Museum, which houses their collection of more than 6,000 of Beuys' artworks and his archives, passed away on October 7 at the age of 87.

The exhibition “SELF. DETERMINED: The Painter Ottilie W. Roederstein” opens today, featuring 75 paintings and drawings by the German-Swiss artist (1859-1937) who lived near Frankfurt with her partner, the gynecologist Elisabeth H. Winterhalter. The Städel aims to reintroduce this once-popular portraitist to the public.

The 4th movement of the String Quartet in B-flat major, kept by the Czech institution in Brno for 80 years, will be returned to the heirs of banker Franz Petschek, whose property was looted by the Nazis. A key piece in the museum's collection, it is being exhibited here for the first time before its return.

An Italian pageant shield, decorated by Girolamo di Tommaso da Treviso (1497-1544), will be returned to the Czech Republic. Having previously belonged to Archduke Franz Ferdinand, it fell into Nazi hands in 1939. (PMoA)