Dorotheum

The Dorotheum (German pronunciation: [ˌdoːʀoˈteːʊm] (listen)) is one of the world's oldest auction houses and is the largest auction house of art items in Continental Europe.[1] Established by Emperor Joseph I in 1707, it has its headquarters in Vienna on the Dorotheergasse and branches in other European countries.[2] Besides auctions, the retail sector also plays a major role in Dorotheum's business.[3] In the Dorotheum, works of art, antiques, furniture, and jewellery from various centuries are put up for auction. The building is constructed in the neo-classical style. It is an attraction for Viennese natives and numerous tourists alike.

Dorotheum GmbH & Co KG
TypePublic
IndustryAuctions
Founded1707
HeadquartersVienna, Austria
Key people
Chairman Martin Boehm, Lucas Tinzl
Number of employees
ca. 530
Websitewww.dorotheum.com
Dorotheum

Branches exist in Vienna in the Austrian states, the Czech capital of Prague, and the Italian cities of Milan and Rome, as well as in Düsseldorf, Munich and Brussels.

History

The firm's establishment as the Versatz- und Fragamt zu Wien was carried out by Emperor Joseph I in 1707.[4] Seventy years later it moved into the former Dorotheerkloster, which gave it its current name of Dorotheum.[5] The new building of the Dorotheum Palace in the location of the old cloister was completed in 1901.[4] At the end of the 1980s, the building's foyer and interior were redesigned by the Viennese architect and designer Luigi Blau. In 2001, the Dorotheum was sold to an Austrian consortium and since then has greatly expanded, including opening offices abroad in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the UK.[4]

In November 2018, a landscape painting, one of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's lesser-known works valued at €160,000, was stolen from the auction house just days before it was scheduled to be auctioned off.[6]

Controversies

In 2001 two landscapes by Norbert Grund that had been looted by Nazis in Holland in 1941 were consigned to the Dorotheum for sale. After public outcry and much discussion, the Dorotheum withdrew the paintings from sale and returned them, not to the consigners but to the "rightful owners".[7]

During the Nazi years, the Dorotheum played an important role in selling property seized from Jews by the Gestapo Office for the Disposal of the Property of Jewish Emigrants, known as the Vugesta.[8] Recognizing the risk that Nazi-tainted art may have passed through the Dorotheum to museums, the State Museums of Vienna published a list of objects purchased from the Dorotheum between 1938 and 1945 to facilitate verification.[9][10]

References
  1. "Going, going, … - any more bids?". wieninternational.at. 2007-03-28. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
  2. "Top 14 European Auction Houses You Need to Know (Updated 2018)". Mearto. 2016-08-23. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  3. Wrathall, Claire (2018-11-23). "Fine-art finds and treasures in an auction house: exploring Vienna's winter shopping delights". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  4. Crichton-Miller, Emma (2018-09-21). "'We are racing yachts, not ocean liners': smaller European auction houses thrive". Financial Times. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  5. "History - Dorotheum". www.dorotheum.com. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  6. Reuters (2018-11-28). "Renoir painting stolen from auction house in central Vienna". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  7. "Looted paintings at the Dorotheum". lootedart. Commission for Looted Art in Europe. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  8. "The VUGESTA (The Gestapo Office for the Disposal of the Property of Jewish Emigrants)". kunstdatenbank.at. National Fund for the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  9. "Whereabouts Known :Looted Cultural Property in the Wien Museum". lootedart. Commission for Looted Art in Europe. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  10. "Dorotheumsankäufe 1938 - 1945" (PDF). lootedart. Commission for Looted Art in Europe. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  • The information in this article is based on a translation of its German equivalent.

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