Paul Rosenberg evidence dossier

Current assurance

awaiting independent human review. This page is an invitation to verify or correct the case, not a publication or legal determination.

Frozen question: What can cross-source records establish about works connected to Paul Rosenberg that were seized or displaced during the Nazi era, and where do the records preserve uncertainty or disagreement?

Bounded answer

What the combined evidence supports

Across Getty, ERR, Rose Valland, Lost Art, the official RBS, primary correspondence in Archives diplomatiques dossier 45.15, and a bounded review of MoMA folder V.A.8, the system can distinguish actors, locate specific displaced works, preserve aliases, and expose two useful negative facts: the Braque is reported as absent from the relevant ERR inventories despite recovery in Brussels, and the inspected V.A.8 surrogate does not supply the referenced photograph 3492. RBS *5034 corroborates the description, 97 x 130 cm dimensions, OBIP number, and Paul Rosenberg as named owner. The 1947 letters connect the generic title Nature Morte to Mandoline, fruits et bouteille, document the Brussels recovery process, and describe restitution to Rosenberg as intended after formalities. The updated official JDP-0056 record now binds two image files to that registered title-and-dimension identity, providing relevant image-based registration evidence without establishing that either file is photograph 3492. The letters and images do not prove the final September handover, complete seizure history, present ownership, legal title, or scholarly novelty. The combined sources support a stronger reproducible research answer, not a legal conclusion.

Primary evidence

Photo Prints of Returned PR Paintings

The Museum of Modern Art Archives · 1947 · primary archive digital surrogate

Status: not verified
SHA-256: c692e96d020bae9e07c070cb65c3d1e4d7129357575ded8a4244afe9c23dcdd5
Inspection: All archival image pages 2-65 were visually reviewed from rendered contact sheets. The promising Braque sequence on pages 4-8 and grouped catalogue sheets on pages 56-62 were re-rendered at 220 dpi and inspected individually.

Boundary: A full-folder review found no page that could be securely matched to the target title or photograph number 3492. The strongest apparent Braque candidate was positively identified by its accompanying notarized declaration as L'intérieur au vase noir, not the target. V.A.8 therefore establishes a primary-document collection context but does not prove the object-specific restitution claim or the September 1947 handover.

Open the source document · Open repository context

Printed page 227, entry *5034

French Ministry of Culture · 1947 · primary government publication digital surrogate

Status: verified
SHA-256: 15ea416da7d168d6c56b54aa1cc336361b14425f4590622abad438525d4711b7
Inspection: OCR located entry 5034; PDF page 351 was then rendered at 2.5x and visually inspected against the printed page.

Boundary: The entry corroborates object identity, dimensions, the OBIP claim number, and named owner in the 1947 RBS. It does not by itself prove seizure circumstances, discovery in Belgium, the restitution date, present title, or present location.

Open the source document · Open repository context

Timeline of source assertions

1923-03-28/1923-04-03 — Lost Art report says Paul Rosenberg acquired Matisse's Femme assise from Georges Bernheim. lost-art-database
1941-09-05 — Lost Art report says the Matisse was seized from Rosenberg in Libourne, citing the Roganeau List. lost-art-database
1947-09-12 — ERR and Rose Valland records say the Braque was restituted after discovery in Belgium, while stating it was absent from the pertinent ERR inventories. err-jeu-de-paume
2015-05 — Lost Art report says the Matisse was restituted to Rosenberg's heirs. lost-art-database

Actors that must remain distinct

Paul Rosenberg · Person
Dealer/collector; not automatically identical to a gallery record.
Paul Rosenberg · Group
Getty models this label as E74 Group.
Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg · Group
Nazi plunder organization headed by Alfred Rosenberg; surname overlap must never merge it with Paul Rosenberg or his gallery.

Claims matrix

Comparison	Result	Sources	Values and boundary
braque-51346-title	agreement	err-jeu-de-paume, france-mnr-rose-valland	Mandoline, fruits et bouteille · Nature morte avec fruits; alternate title Mandoline, fruits et bouteille
braque-51346-err-inventory	agreement	err-jeu-de-paume, france-mnr-rose-valland	absent from relevant ERR inventories
braque-51346-restitution-date	agreement	err-jeu-de-paume, france-mnr-rose-valland	1947-09-12
braque-51346-object-identity	agreement	err-jeu-de-paume, france-mnr-rose-valland, rbs-tome-2	Georges Braque; mandoline, fruit and bottle title family; 97 x 130 cm; Paul Rosenberg connection The RBS is primary corroboration for identity and the named owner, not for the later restitution narrative.
braque-51346-belgium-primary-bridge	agreement	archives-diplomatiques-209sup-1, rbs-tome-2, err-jeu-de-paume, france-mnr-rose-valland	Nature Morte / Mandoline, fruits et bouteille · 97 x 130 cm · Paul Rosenberg claimant/owner · recovered in Brussels The primary letters establish the object-specific recovery process and intended restitution by May 1947; they do not themselves prove completion on 12 September 1947.
braque-3492-moma-va8	bounded-negative	moma-paul-rosenberg-archives	pages 2-65 inspected · pages 4-8 identify L'intérieur au vase noir · no secure photograph-3492 or target-title match This rules out a match in the inspected V.A.8 surrogate; it does not prove photograph 3492 is absent from the wider Paul Rosenberg Archives.
braque-jdp-0056-official-image-registration	agreement	france-mnr-rose-valland, rbs-tome-2, archives-diplomatiques-209sup-1	official POP image files bound to JDP-0056 · Nature morte avec fruits / Mandoline, fruits et bouteille title family · 97 x 130 cm · 1936 The official images strengthen object identification but are not identified as photograph 3492 and do not prove the September 1947 physical handover.
braque-51346-legacy-crosslink	agreement-dependent	err-jeu-de-paume, legacy-explorer	JDP 51346; Mandoline, fruits et bouteille; Georges Braque; RA1 Agreement is not independent because Legacy Explorer identifies ERR as its main source.
braque-exact-title-discovery	not-comparable	lost-art-database, proveana	Lost Art: zero exact-label results · Proveana: 18 token matches but no exact-target signal Different search behavior and indexing prevent a database-wide absence claim.
cezanne-jdp-0062-restitution-date	conflict	france-mnr-rose-valland	1947-07-11 per ERR · 1947-08-11 per annotated RBS A source can preserve an internal cross-document disagreement; it is unresolved here and is not evidence about the Braque.

Six-source search ledger

getty-provenance-index · positive
One E74 Group and 25 bounded sales-activity leads; no wartime-loss conclusion.
Repeat this source search
err-jeu-de-paume · positive
486 matches. Reviewed card 51346 for Braque, Mandoline, fruits et bouteille.
Repeat this source search
legacy-explorer · positive
1,216 expanded-term results. Direct target record confirms title, Braque, JDP 51346, RA1 archival signature, and ERR main-source link; it is a cross-linked interface, not independent underlying proof.
Repeat this source search
lost-art-database · positive-broad-negative-exact-label
125 broad object results for Paul Rosenberg; zero results for the exact French target title. The negative is query-bounded and does not exclude aliases or other identifiers.
Repeat this source search
proveana · positive-broad-no-exact-target
472 broad results. First page distinguishes the person, collection, gallery, archive, other Rosenbergs, and the ERR organization. The target-title query returned 18 token matches but no Braque, CardId 51346, Paul Rosenberg, or exact-title signal.
Repeat this source search
france-mnr-rose-valland · entry-point-broken-direct-record-positive
The registered advanced-search URL returned 404. Direct official notice JDP-0056 remains available and cross-links ERR card 51346.
Repeat this source search

Browser receipt hashes

legacy-explorer · Paul Rosenberg · positive
0a1d27e64d1f6a6863cca270e4167bcaf373c74d68d67347e00b30ee969b3a19
Open captured query
legacy-explorer · direct record CardId=51346 · positive-target-record
8fd9d2dc87497d280d81153dd56767fb79f44aca338ea1e7edc8de044df3e8c8
Open captured query
lost-art-database · Paul Rosenberg · positive
19362a9b19f6ecf836bc2bd9adc55a716069794cb6835619ffcebc379933a384
Open captured query
lost-art-database · Mandoline, fruits et bouteille · negative-exact-label
dac4f95236dd1bb5112154c73f093f4a5df17360b085dbc8acad6748dfb583e2
Open captured query
proveana · Paul Rosenberg · positive
956025b5c61c94e6e3678a2812ca46d8168534eec3b76b1203a57acd41752f9d
Open captured query
proveana · Mandoline, fruits et bouteille · no-exact-target-among-token-results
c566ccefa829fafb31c91c959c69c1ab63e1b1f18d2b3a1b773708462af07317
Open captured query

What this does not prove

It does not prove that every Getty activity concerns the same Paul Rosenberg person or gallery.
It does not prove that the Braque appears on an ERR inventory; both reviewed records explicitly say the opposite.
It does not prove present ownership, legal title, wrongdoing by later holders, or restitution eligibility.
RBS *5034 corroborates object identity and Paul Rosenberg as the named owner in the 1947 publication; it does not prove how the work was lost, found in Belgium, restituted, or presently owned.
It does not establish independent reproducibility or public comprehension before genuine external testing.

Missing evidence

The updated official JDP-0056 record now supplies two object images, closing the missing relevant-image registration step. Locate photograph 3492 or the RA1 claims file to establish the cited archival-photo lineage, and obtain a signed September receipt to prove the final physical handover. The complete V.A.8 surrogate review did not contain photograph 3492, and the 209SUP/1 correspondence establishes intended restitution rather than completed handover.
Review and classify each of the 25 Getty activity leads; the capture alone does not establish relevance.
Review record-level relevance beyond the bounded first pages of the 125 Lost Art and 472 Proveana broad results; the completed searches establish discovery behavior, not relevance of every hit.
Resolve whether Getty's Group entity denotes the gallery, dealer business, or another cataloging construct using record-level authority evidence.