Provenance Project

Following recommendations set by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), the purpose of the Provenance Project is to determine whether any objects that entered John Ringling’s collection after 1932 (and the Museum’s collection since 1936) could have been unlawfully appropriated by the Nazi regime and not subsequently restituted to their rightful owners. The works published in this section of our website either have gaps in their provenance during the period of 1933 to 1945, or are otherwise believed to have been handled by the Nazi government. Gaps in provenance are by no means evidence that a work was obtained improperly. However, we publish this list to open our inquiry further and we welcome any information on the provenance of works in our collection.