Provenance

D. H. Lijversberg , Cologne, Germany. Sale, Rudolph Lepke’s Kunstauktionshaus, Berlin, April 25, 1911, lot 134 (as attr. to Albrecht Dürer). Dr. Paul Esch, Cologne, Germany, by 1922 to at least 1929; with Galerie Stern (Dr. Max Stern, dealer), Düsseldorf, Germany, by April 18, 1936 [see note 1]; sold to P. de Boer (Kunsthandel de Boer, dealer), Amsterdam, April 1936 (stock no. 2172) [see note 2]; sold to E.A. Silberman Galleries, Inc. (Elkan and Abris Silberman, dealers), New York, March 1937 [see also note 2]; probably sold to Jane Tripp (née Bancroft Shiverick, 1889–1988) and Chester Dudley Tripp (died 1974), Chicago, by 1955 [see note 3]; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1961 [see note 4]

Note 1: On April 18, 1936, Dr. Max Stern sent a photo of the painting to Dr. Hans Schneider, director of the Dutch Institute for Art History in Holland (RKD). Stern notes in his letter that the painting is from the collection of Paul Esch, Cologne, and enquires as to whether a Dutch art gallery or museum would be interested in the painting (Letter from Galerie Stern , Düsseldorf, to Dr. Hans Schneider, s’Gravenhage, Holland, April 18, 1936, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, copy in accession file)

Note 2: Kunsthandel de Boer stock-card, Kunsthandel de Boer, Amsterdam, copy in accession file Note 3: The painting was exhibited at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 and at the Art Association of Indianapolis in 1950. In both instances, the painting was loaned from an American private collection through E. A. Silberman Galleries, New York. The painting was later exhibited at E. A. Silberman in 1955 as a loan from Mr. and Mrs. Chester Dudley Tripp. It’s possible that the private collection referred to in 1939 and 1950 may be the Tripp’s and that the painting was sold to them as early as 1939. Note 4: At the time of Chester Dudley Tripp’s donation to the Gallery, donors were permitted to retain possession during their lifetime. After Tripp died in 1974, the painting was retained by his widow, Jane Tripp. The Gallery did not take physical possession of St. Paul until 1976.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Dr. Max Stern (1904–1987) was a Jewish-German art collector, dealer and philanthropist, who owned and operated the Galerie Stern, in Düsseldorf. In 1937, he was forced to close the gallery and liquidate the inventory due to Nazi persecution. Works of art from the gallery’s stock were forcibly sold at auction or confiscated by the Gestapo, and Stern fled from Germany to London that same year. Max Stern was interned as an enemy alien for two years before emigrating to Canada where he founded the Dominion Gallery, in Montreal. The Gallery has been communicating with the Max Stern Art Restitution Project to understand the transfer of ownership of “Saint Paul” by Lucas van Leyden in 1936. Research is ongoing.

This work appears on our "Artworks with Nazi-Era Provenance Documentation Gaps" page.