Two years after the death of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of Adolf Hitler’s personal art dealer, the oldest art museum in Switzerland has inherited more than 1,000 of his horded works – many of which were discovered and seized during the 2012 Munich Artworks Discovery

Back in February of 2012, Gurlitt’s flat was found to be home to some 1,280 art works following a tax evasion probe by the Bavarian police force. In their number was a range of originals from such legendary artists as Liebermann, Matisse and even Pablo Picasso – a horde valued to approaching the billions. Following a press conference earlier today, president of the museum’s board of trustee’s Christoph Schaeublin said that they would accept the request following the claim that “no work is suspected of being looted”.

Due to his strong family connections to the upper walks of the Nazi regime, the question of the widespread looting of châteaux’s and museums that was rife during the German war campaign was undoubtedly raised; as such approximately half of the works will remain in Germany until their potential rightful owners are contacted. This is following several claims that a number of the pieces were looted works from the collection of the legendary Paul and Leonce Rosenberg.
The works will be added to the Museum’s already famed permanent collection.

Pictures: Wikipedia under creative commons, Associated Press.