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Painting “Jesus at the Home of Martha and Mary” returned to France

Almost fifty years ago, the painting “Jesus at the Home of Martha and Mary” by the artist Théodore Chassériau was stolen from the Church of St. Marie-Madeleine in Marcoussis, France. The painting has been on France’s list of nationally protected cultural heritage since 1950.

A painting painted in dark colours shows a biblical scene with three figures in long robes, one of them with a halo. Painting “Jesus at the Home of Martha and Mary” by Théodore Chassériau. Source: Western Hesse Police Headquarters

Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856) was a French Romantic painter and was taught by the classicist painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), whose pupil Chassériau became at age 11. Chassériau is best known for his portraits and historical scenes, which are exhibited in major collections such as those of the Louvre Museum.

For more than fifty years, the disappearance of his painting “Jesus at the Home of Martha and Mary” remained a mystery. Only in 2019 did a French restorer discover by chance that the painting was located in Germany and was to be sold there. After learning of the facts of the case, the painting’s owner supported its return to France, its country of origin, so that the painting could ultimately return to Marcoussis in July 2019.

To the left and right of a painting in dark colours, a delegation consisting of two representatives of the responsible German authorities and a representative of the country of origin, France, stands in front of a white wall. Delegation at the handover ceremony at the Western Hesse police headquarters in Wiesbaden Source: Western Hesse Police Headquarters