Cadell has recently played a critical role for sight loss charity, the Vision Foundation, by helping to maximise proceeds from an art collection that was seized by the Nazis.
In 1938, the Irma Löwenstein art collection was seized and sold under duress before Irma and her husband fled Vienna for London, where her husband died soon afterwards. Irma later remarried, but did not have children and when she died in 1976, she left the majority of her estate to the charity.
Over the following four decades Irma’s attempts to track down her collection were unsuccessful but she never gave up hope. And her meticulous research and records meant that in 2019, more than 80 years after they were stolen by the Nazis, the three valuable works by Waldmüller were formally restituted by the German Federal Government to their rightful heir – British charity Vision Foundation.
Cadell recognised the importance of this case and helped provide detailed research into the artworks as well as advising on the optimum sale process to maximise the proceeds of the paintings to benefit the charity.
Credit: ITV News London