A Flemish tapestry of the 17th century, “the Queen of Sheba and Salomon”, that belonged to a Jewish family and was auctioned during the Nazi regime has now found its home and heirs to Emma Budge, the rightful owner, have been compensated.
The European Investment Bank acquired the tapestry in good faith and ignoring its history in 1986 from an antique dealer in France before subsequently donating it in 2015 to the non-profit organisation “Les Amis du Château de Vianden”, which to this day exposes the art piece in the Vianden Castle.
In the past years, Me Fremy, a lawyer of the Budge family contacted the European Investment Bank and les Amis du Château de Vianden informing them that the tapestry constituted looted art from the Budge collection auctioned in 1937.
The parties jointly collaborated to appoint renowned experts in the field of textile and tapestry art from the 17th century who, after a thorough examination, positively confirmed that the tapestry was indeed the one owned by the Budge family.
All parties agreed that a financial compensation for the tapestry would be paid to the heirs and that the tapestry would remain in its latest home, the Vianden Castle. All parties welcomed the settlement of this matter.