Franz Xaver Winterhalter's "Girl from the Sabine Hills" - Part 3: Provenance and Restitution

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Franz Xaver Winterhalter's "Girl from the Sabine Hills" is one of the artist's most accomplished early works, painted during his Italian period in the 1830s. It previously belonged to the German-Jewish art dealer Max Stern, who was forced by the Nazi’s to sell it along with his gallery’s entire inventory at a forced auction in 1937.

The painting was rediscovered at a small auction in the early 2000s, and after a prolonged legal battle, it was awarded to the Max Stern Foundation, the beneficiaries of Stern's estate. The painting is now being sold by the foundation to fund its mission to recover works taken from Stern and to support related research and educational programs.