Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1882 Frankfurt, Germany

Died: 1964 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1936

Biography

Art dealer Julius Falk Goldschmidt was born into a Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany, on 27 November 1882. As a young man, he joined the firm of J. M. Goldschmidt, which had been established in 1859 by his father and two uncles. Among the firm’s renowned clients were the Tsar, the German Emperor, and members of the Rothschild banking family. Goldschmidt’s passion for the arts extended to running a jewellery and antiquities business, J. & S. Goldschmidt, in Frankfurt. A student of Wilhelm von Bode, a German art historian and museum curator, Goldschmidt developed an appreciation for museological traditions, as exemplified by the Kaiser Friedrich Museum. Goldschmidt became instrumental in shaping major art collections after the family firm expanded to the USA in 1905. Among the individuals and collectors he influenced were John Pierpont Morgan (financier and art patron), Benjamin Altman (collector of European masterpieces), Peter Arrell Browne Widener (decorative arts specialist), and Jules S. Bache (connoisseur of Old Master paintings). Goldschmidt frequently travelled to the USA with his wife, Helene ‘Leni’ Goldschmidt. On 21 November 1923, they moved to New York, residing at 21 West 58th Street. On 16 January 1924, he filed a declaration of intent to become a naturalised USA citizen but soon returned to Frankfurt. In 1929, Goldschmidt, along with his cousin Arthur and Jewish art dealers Zacharias Max Hackenbroch, Isaak Rosenbaum, and Saemy Rosenberg, collectively known as The Consortium, acquired over 80 medieval reliquary pieces originating from Brunswick Cathedral in Germany. Known as the Guelph Treasure, this collection included significant works such as the Reliquary with the Tooth of Saint John the Baptist and the Gospels of Henry the Lion.By 1933, Nazi anti-Semitic legislation restricted access to the art market only to (non-Jewish) members of the Reich Chamber of Culture. In 1934, Arthur and Julius Falk Goldschmidt were forced to abandon their business premises, leading to a drastic decline in sales. Ultimately, The Consortium was forced to sell the Guelph Treasure to the Nazi regime for a fraction of its true value.

By 1936, Goldschmidt fled to London, which then became the headquarters of his business. Other members of his family followed, and by 1939, his wife and their eldest son, Felix Arthur, had also arrived (they had another son, Herman), as well as Helen’s mother, Elise Seligmann Goldschmidt. (Goldschmidt was also the first cousin of his wife’s father, which is why he shared a last name with his mother-in-law). Goldschmidt’s habit of repeatedly visiting exhibitions to meticulously study new bronze statuettes, combined with his unparalleled hands-on knowledge of their craftsmanship, established him as the preeminent authority of Renaissance bronzes of his era. He was particularly well-versed in the works of Benedetto da Majano, Pietro Mellini, Andrea Riccio, and Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi. He had many friends in the art world, including John Pope-Hennessy, who served as director of both the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Goldschmidt’s work had a lasting impact on institutions in both the UK and the USA, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art in the USA. Julius Falk Goldschmidt died in London, England on 18 November 1964. Works once held in Goldschmidt’s collection can be found in provenance records of leading auction houses and museums, such as Sotheby's and the Getty Museum in California, USA, attesting to his long and significant career in the art world. In summer 2024 Ben Uri Gallery and Museum featured Goldschmidt in its exhibition, Cosmopolis: The Impact of Refugee Art Dealers in London.

Goldschmidt’s career trajectory and the fate of parts of his collection is one of many examples of Nazi looting and the subsequent complex legal disputes over restitution pursued by heirs. In 2021, the US Supreme Court ruled against the heirs of Jewish art dealers, including the heirs of Julius Falk Goldschmidt, alongside Sammy Rosenberg, Isaak Rosenbaum, and Zacharias Hackenbroch, all from Frankfurt. The heirs sought to reclaim the Guelph Treasure, asserting that it had been sold under duress to the Nazis for a fraction of its true value. The sale was orchestrated by Hermann Göring. The US court ruled that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not permit lawsuits against foreign governments for actions taken against their own citizens. This decision demonstrates the significant challenges that Holocaust victims and their descendants face when attempting to recover art looted during the Second World War. In 2023, the heirs appealed the decision, arguing that the case should be heard in the US due to the dealers’ foreign national status and the context of the sale as a violation of international law. These legal disputes are part of a much longer and previously unsuccessful legal battle of the Goldschmidt heirs.