Our Social Impact

Ensuring the return of a valuable legacy

Images: courtesy of Vison Foundation

In August 2019, sight-loss charity the Vision Foundation approached us with an historic opportunity. At stake was the return of three paintings seized by the Nazis in 1938. Our Art & Luxury team stepped up to support the legal effort to recover them – which last year saw these artifacts sold to fund a variety of projects for blind and partially sighted people.

The story began when Irma Löwenstein and her husband fled Vienna to escape Nazi persecution, leaving behind a significant private art collection, including several works by Austrian artist Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller that were seized with the intention that they be displayed in Hitler’s Führermuseum. Having settled in Britain, Irma spent the remainder of her life trying to recover the paintings, with no success. She did, however, leave her Estate to the Vision Foundation when she passed away in 1976.

By May 2019, the Vision Foundation had learned that three Waldmüller paintings had been found in museums across Germany and that the German Federal Government had decided it was entitled to take ownership of them. This set in motion an intense investigative journey that saw members of our Art & Luxury and international Private Client teams conduct extensive family and historical research to determine whether the charity was indeed entitled to inherit the paintings.

As well as helping the charity navigate the complex world of restitution and the art world, the Charles Russell Speechlys team guided the Vision Foundation Pro Bono through this incredibly complex case, which spanned three jurisdictions, almost 50 years of case law and more than 120 years of Irma’s family history.

Finally, the paintings were delivered into the ownership of the Vision Foundation. All three have now been sold and the precious legacy has raised more than €620,000 to fund its work – all during one of the toughest years in the Vision Foundation’s 100-year history, due to the financial uncertainty caused by COVID-19. Said the Vision Foundation: “The money raised really will go towards changing lives for blind and partially sighted people in London.” Examples of projects that will benefit include: help for visually impaired university graduates to find work; making West End Theatre accessible to visually impaired children; teaching children the importance of eye health; and giving visually impaired people the opportunity to enjoy competitive sports.

The experience also provided a boost to the Vision Foundation as it unveiled a new brand, helping it to seed its new name with the public and supporters. Importantly, it also positioned the charity as a trusted source for future legacy pledges. “Legacies are vital to the Vision Foundation,” explains Olivia Curno, Chief Executive, the Vision Foundation. “And this one, which brings with it such a powerful story of loss, is particularly poignant, as well of course as being hugely generous and quite unexpected. However, it was also something we’d never encountered in our hundred-year history and the Pro Bono advice we’ve received has been invaluable.” "We were delighted to be asked to help the Vision Foundation,” says Rudy Capildeo, Partner in the Art & Luxury team. “It was a fantastic example of how Pro Bono work can be unexpected and incredibly rewarding for both the client and the team working on it.”

“Legacies are vital to the Vision Foundation and this one, which brings with it such a powerful story of loss, is particularly poignant, as well of course as being hugely generous and quite unexpected. However, it was also something we’d never encountered in our hundred-year history and the Pro Bono advice we’ve received has been invaluable”

– Olivia Curno, Chief Executive, the Vision Foundation

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