The Lover's Portrait

by Jennifer S. Alderson

  Zelda bear-hugged the older woman, squeezing her so tight that Rita squealed. “If there’s anything else I can do for you or your sisters – anything at all – please let me know.”

  Rita pulled out of their embrace, readjusting her coke-bottle glasses before saying, “Well, we were hoping you could help us find out more about the lesser-known artists in my daddy’s collection. Sure, several of them are considered important Dutch painters now, like Karel Appel, Jan Sluijters and Charley Toorop. But others didn’t survive the war and don’t seem to be included in any art history books. It would be nice to know more about those other young men, whom my father respected enough to want to help. I know you’re going to have your hands full with your classes and all, but if you get some free time, maybe you could check the local archives for us and see if you can find anything out about them?”

  “I think I’ll be able to find the time,” Zelda said with a laugh before tucking the check into her wallet.

  Rita nodded, satisfied. “Well, young lady, you’d better escort me back to my hotel. I’ve got an early evening flight and lots of packing to do.” It took her a few seconds to wriggle her pear-shaped bottom out of the wicker chair.

  “What about your father’s collection?”

  “It’s being bubble-wrapped and crated up, as we speak. I was honest enough with all those museum people to let them know they wouldn’t be getting their hands on my daddy’s paintings right away.”

  Rita gathered up her purse and her father’s cremated ashes while Zelda tucked the Sluijters back inside its box. “Did you know the Amsterdam Museum is paying to have them all shipped back to Missouri? Isn’t that nice? That curator, Huub Konijn, has been such a tremendous help these past few days. As a matter of fact, he’s the one who arranged to have the Sluijters boxed up for you. Funny, I got the feeling he didn’t really like me when we first met. After that second meeting, he made me so doggone mad I thought about forging a letter from my daddy, naming the friend he’d stored all of his art with. Trouble was, I couldn’t remember any of his real friends’ names. Good thing I didn’t. If I had, it would have muddled up our claim even more.”

  “I’m really glad you didn’t,” Zelda replied. Karen’s fake documents had caused enough confusion. If Rita had forged that letter, Huub would not be helping her now, whether she was the rightful owner or not.

  Zelda held the café’s door open for Rita, chuckling softly to herself. Huub had indeed turned out to be one of the good guys, effectively lobbying the Secretary of State for Culture to expedite the return of all three hundred and twenty-seven paintings – including Irises – to their legal owners. Thanks to the documentation Arjan van Heemsvliet had enclosed in every crate, Zelda and the rest of the restitution project team were able to locate all of the heirs within ten days. The artwork was now being readied for transport to destinations all over the world. Zelda felt good knowing Rita and her sisters were getting all of their father’s pieces back, just as the thirty-seven other families Arjan once helped would, thanks in a large part to her own unauthorized research and bullheaded actions.

  “The only thing I’m taking back with me now is Irises. She just fits inside my suitcase. After all I’ve been through – heck, all we’ve been through – to get that painting back, I’m not letting her out of my sight again,” Rita explained, as Zelda lead them back to her hotel on the Museumplein.

  Zelda thought of Philip Verbeet’s own suitcase, sitting by Arjan van Heemsvliet’s door, packed and ready to go to Venlo, Irises carefully wrapped up inside.

  “And what are you going to do with this lovely summer’s day, my dear?” Rita asked.

  “I owe my friend Friedrich an airplane.”

  Rita looked over at her quizzically.

  Zelda laughed. “Long story. I’m taking him shopping for model plane parts later today. He likes to build them from scratch.” After that terrible day in the shed, she was happy to be able to do anything with Friedrich. Though his left arm was still in a sling, his broken collarbone had healed up nicely.

  “Is it his birthday?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Is he your boyfriend?” Rita teased, as they rounded the block and entered her hotel’s tree-lined street.

  “No, just a really good friend.” Zelda knew she and Friedrich could never be a couple, with or without Pietro in her life. Somehow she’d finally been able to convince him of that during her stint as nurse and cook the first week after he’d been discharged from the hospital. But he’d proven himself a true friend, one she was quite grateful to have. And knowing they would never be romantically involved seemed to have relaxed Friedrich immensely, letting him enjoy his role as little brother to the fullest.

  Once again she held the door open for Rita Brouwer, this time to the older lady’s hotel lobby. They took the elevator up to her suite on the third floor, courtesy of the Amsterdam Museum. As Rita laid her father’s urn down on the bed, Zelda fidgeted with the box in her hands, unsure of how to say goodbye to someone who’d given her so much.

  “Have a safe flight, Rita. I’ll email you as soon as I find out more about those young artists you asked about,” she finally managed, trying to keep her voice as upbeat as possible. She knew they’d stay in touch electronically, but Zelda doubted they’d ever see each other again.

  “Thank you for helping us girls out. I’m already looking forward to reading your research updates,” Rita grabbed onto her and hugged her tight.

  Zelda pushed back and kissed her three times on the cheek, Dutch-style. “Thank you Rita, for everything,” she replied, softly patting the bubble-wrapped painting lodged firmly under her arm.

  THE END

  Thank you for reading my book.

  If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a review on your favorite retailer’s website, my Facebook page or Goodreads. I appreciate it!

  - Jennifer S. Alderson

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I am deeply indebted to Philip and Cherie – the earliest readers of this manuscript – for their constructive criticism, belief in this project, and encouragement to keep writing. Many thanks to my wonderful family and friends for being such fantastic cheerleaders. And much love to my darling son Jasper for being such a great kid, even when mama has to work.

  The idea for this story was inspired by two actual events: an exhibition in the Hollandsche Schouwburg, Looted, but from whom? (November 2006 - March 2007), in which objects stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War were exhibited to the public in the hopes their owners would recognize and claim them; and a brilliant publicity stunt organized by the Bunker Museum Zandvoort on April 1, 2008 involving a German treasure hunter and priceless paintings buried in the dunes along the Dutch coast.

  My own experiences as a student at the University of Amsterdam and intern at Museum Willet-Holthuysen provided the basis for Zelda’s academic ambitions and work experience. Thanks, in particular, to Professor Ellinoor Bergvelt and internship supervisors Bert Vreeken and Nel Klaversma, for happily indoctrinating me into the world of exhibition design and collection research.

  All of the books, records and historical documents I used as reference material while writing The Lover’s Portrait can be found at one of these fine intuitions: the library of the Dutch Resistance Museum; the archives of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; the Rijksmuseum’s Research Library and Print Room; the archives of NIOD: Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies; the Amsterdam City Archives; the National Library of the Netherlands; the Jewish Historical Museum’s library; the Hollandsche Schouwburg: National Holocaust Memorial; the (now disbanded) library of KIT Tropenmuseum; and the University of Amsterdam’s libraries and Special Collections. I am deeply grateful to the knowledgeable staff of all of these museums, archives and libraries for so graciously helping a young American learn more about this incredibly complex period in European history.

  I am particularly indebted to archivist Peter Kroesen of the Amsterdam City Archives for taking
time early on in this project to share many interesting facts and obscure stories about Amsterdam in the 1930s and 1940s, such as the existence of the gay-friendly bar Café ’t Mandje, real-life escape routes to Switzerland organized by various resistance groups, and the confiscation of occupied homes located around Museumplein.

  Three books were crucial in providing insight into the Dutch art market and standard practices of European art dealers during the 1930s and 1940s: De Nederlandse Kunstmarkt 1940-1945 by Jeroen Euwe, Roofkunst: de zaak Goudstikker by Pieter den Hollander and Kunsthandel in Nederland 1940-1945 by Adriaan Venema. Two research papers, written in 1985 by then-bachelor student Rob Lambers, were immensely useful resources in understanding the kinds of exhibitions Dutch museums and galleries presented during the war, as well as how artists’ collectives functioned: Het Stedelijk Museum te Amsterdam tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog and Musea en Kunstenaarsverenigingen tijdens de jaren 1940-1945 in Nederland.

  The catalogue for the exhibition Westphaalsch-Nederrijnsche Kunst (August 2, 1941 - September 14, 1941) – initiated by Reich Commissioner Arthur Seyss-Inquart, organized by the Nederlandse-Duitse Kultuurgemeenschap and held in the Rijksmuseum – explains why Hitler’s Nazi Regime considered Dutch citizens to be their cultural and linguistic ‘brothers’.

  The fictitious Stolen Objects research project and associated restitution process described in this book are based on the actual Herkomst Gezocht (Origins Unknown) project led by the Ekkart Committee. Their reports, published between 1999 and 2004, describe in explicit detail their research into thousands of unclaimed objects still in the care of the Dutch government and their efforts to track down potential claimants through international advertising campaigns and the aforementioned exhibition, Looted, but from whom?. The Ekkart Committee’s reports and findings, as well as a description of the workings of the actual Restitution Committee and links to their collection database, are available online in English via http://www.herkomstgezocht.nl/en.

  There are countless books written about what Adolf Hitler considered to be degenerate art, as well as his plan to create a new mega-museum in Linz by stealing artwork he admired from private citizens, art dealers and cultural institutions across Europe. I found these four books to be the most useful in understanding Hitler’s motivations and the tactics used to realize his ‘dream’: The Lost Museum by Hector Feliciano, The Linz file: Hitler’s plunder of Europe’s art by Charles De Jaeger, Museums and the Holocaust: Laws, Principles and Practice by Norman Palmer, and The Rape of Art: The story of Hitler’s Plunder of the Great Masterpieces of Europe by David Roxan and Ken Wanstall.

  In contrast, there is very little written about the plight of homosexuals in the Netherlands during World War Two. Luckily I found two books containing a wealth of information which enabled me to better understand the challenges a prominent citizen and closeted homosexual, such as the fictitious Arjan van Heemsvliet, would have faced. These two indispensable resources are Het vervolgen van homosexuelen voor, tijdens en na de tweede wereldoorlog (1911-heden), an essay bundle compiled by A. Dijkema and published by the Federation of Dutch Associations for Integration of Homosexuality (COC) in 1985; and the book Doodgeslagen, doodgezwegen: vervolging van homoseksuelen door het nazi-regime 1933-1945 edited by Klaus Müller. To give my English readers a better idea of their tone, the titles of these two tomes can be translated as The persecution of homosexuals before, during and after the Second World War (1911-present) and Beaten to death, silenced: persecution of homosexuals by the Nazi-regime 1933-1945.

  In 1995 the exhibition Rebel, mijn hart: kunstenaars 1940-1945, held in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, commemorated Dutch artists who were killed during the Second World War. The exhibition catalogue, written by Sem Dresden and Max Nord, explains how Jewish artists were affected by the rise of National Socialism in the 1930s, the ever-stricter rules created by the Nazi’s Ministry of Culture, and wide-spread censorship. It also includes information about many of these forgotten artists’ work and personal lives. This excellent resource helped me to understand the ordeals my fictional character, the up-and-coming Jewish artist Lex Wederstein, would have faced.

  There is a wide range of literature available which recounts life in the Netherlands, and in particular Amsterdam, during the Second World War. I relied most heavily on three publications when describing the city in wartime: Kroniek van Amsterdam 1940-1945, published in 1948 by the Genootschap Amstelodamum and compiled by J.F.M. den Boer and Mej. S. Duparc; Ooggetuigen van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in meer dan honderd reportages, complied by Connie Kristel and Hinke Piersma; and De bezette stad: Plattegrond van Amsterdam 1940-1945 by Bianca Stigter. The image banks of NIOD (http://www.beeldbankwo2.nl) and the Amsterdam City Archives (http://beeldbank.amsterdam.nl/beeldbank) were also extremely useful resources when visualizing this era.

  I am immensely grateful to my father-in-law, Jacques Derijcke, for sharing his many vivid memories of growing up in occupied Amsterdam as a young boy.

  I would also like to note that this manuscript was complete before news broke on November 4, 2013 of the discovery of 1,280 paintings, once stolen by the Nazis and assumed to be lost forever, in the apartments of German citizen Cornelius Gurlitt.

  As many of the resources listed above are only available in Dutch, it is perhaps important to note that I am fluent in the language – and have the government-issued certificate to prove it!

  For the purposes of this story, I intentionally refer to a major earthquake taking place in Seattle in 2014, when in actuality the last significant quake to hit the Pacific Northwest – the Nisqually earthquake (6.8 on the Richter scale) – occurred on February 28, 2001. When it hit, I was working at Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond. Zelda’s experiences mirror my own.

  Although I have done my utmost to ensure all of the historical facts, events, policies and attitudes described within this book are accurate, any factual errors that remain are solely my responsibility.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jennifer S. Alderson was born in San Francisco, raised in Seattle, and currently lives in Amsterdam. Her love of travel, art, and culture inspires her ongoing mystery series, the Adventures of Zelda Richardson. Her background in journalism, multimedia development, and art history enriches her novels. When not writing, Jennifer can be found in a museum, biking around Amsterdam, or enjoying a coffee along the canal while planning her next research trip.

  There are currently four books in the stand-alone series following the adventures of traveler and culture lover Zelda Richardson. In Down and Out in Kathmandu, Zelda gets entangled with a gang of smugglers whose Thai leader believes she’s stolen his diamonds. The Lover’s Portrait is a suspenseful “whodunit?” about Nazi-looted artwork that transports readers to wartime and present-day Amsterdam. Art, religion, and anthropology collide in Rituals of the Dead, a thrilling artifact mystery set in Dutch New Guinea (Papua) and the Netherlands. Her short story set in Panama and Costa Rica, Holiday Gone Wrong, will help fans better understand this unintentional amateur sleuth’s decision to study art history and give new readers a taste of her tantalizing misadventures.

  Her travelogue, Notes of a Naive Traveler, is an account of her own travels through Nepal and Thailand. It is a must read for those interested in learning more about – or wishing to – travel to either country.

  For more information about the author and her upcoming novels, please visit:

  http://www.JenniferSAlderson.com and

  http://www.facebook.com/JenniferSAldersonAuthor

  or sign up for her newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cWmc29.

  READING GROUP QUESTIONS

  The author switches between two distinct periods of time when telling this story. How did this affect your reading and appreciation of the book? Could this story have taken place in another European city or is it unique to the Netherlands?

  Were you drawn into the mystery aspect of this novel? Did you figure it out before reaching the end of the book? If so, at what point did you begin
to piece together what really happened? If not, which of the many false clues spread throughout the novel tripped you up?

  The author slipped a number of hidden clues into the story. How successful was she at burying them? Did you pick them out during your first reading, or only after you’d finished it?

  Can you understand why Lex Wederstein did what he did in Chapter Nine? Would you have taken the same steps he did, or have joined his family?

  In Chapter Eleven, Huub Konijn is haunted by memories of his sister and her stories of their family’s past. Imagine your family suffered the same fate. Can you understand why his sister gave up all hope after they returned to Amsterdam? Or do you think she should have been thankful to be alive and done her best to build up a new life for herself and her brother? Was Huub right to be angry with her?

  In Chapter Twenty-Three, Arjan van Heemsvliet blames himself for doing something that inadvertently hurts those he cares about. Try to place yourself in Arjan’s position. Do you believe he was right to feel this way? Or was he being too hard on himself? Would you have taken the same risks he did in order to help others?

  Try to imagine it’s May 1941, a year after the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, and you have to leave Amsterdam in a hurry. What do you do with your most precious possessions? Do you leave them behind for the Nazis to confiscate, pack the most important in your suitcases and give the rest away, sell them all, or try to find someone to store them for you? Why?