Commission recommends restitution of 4 paintings owned by Austrian foundation

Austrian panel recommends restitution of 4 works

VIENNA — A commission set up by Austria’s Culture Ministry recommended Friday that four paintings contained in a Vienna art collection should be restituted because they were seized by the Nazis.

The paintings — one by Egon Schiele and three by Anton Romako — belong to the Leopold Museum Private Foundation, which has been criticized by the Jewish community and others for allegedly containing works stolen by the Nazis.

The foundation acknowledged the recommendations — which are nonbinding and were made public Monday — and said it would seek fair solutions.

The commission said the Romako works used to belong to Oskar Reichel, a Jewish doctor who lived in Vienna. It said the Schiele painting belonged to Jenny Steiner whose assets — including art — were confiscated in the late 1930s.