A court in The Hague has banned the Municipality from selling part of a painting by Jan Steen (1625/26-1679). The work, The Wedding Night of Tobias and Sarah, had been divided into two parts for many years, probably since the 19th century.

One half, The Archangel Raphael, was acquired by the Hague art collector Bredius in 1907 and was bought by the Municipality of The Hague after he died. The other half, The Prayer of Tobias and Sarah, was acquired by the Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, but was lost to his family during the Second World War. It finally ended up in the Dutch national art collection The two halves were reunited after an expensive operation in 1996 and the entire work has been on show since then in the Bredius Museum in The Hague.

Ten years later, at the behest of the Restitution Committee charged with investigating claims to cultural property lost during WWII, ruled that Goudstikker’s heir, Marei van Saher, was the owner of the second half. The two parties did not wish to be joint owners of the painting and it was agreed that The Hague should sell its half to Van Saher for around 620.000 euro. The problem was that Breddius’ will stipulate that his half of the painting must remain on show in the museum named after him. The court has now decided that the sale would be in conflict with this.
 

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