Nazi loot claim is investigated by British Museum

The British Museum is investigating whether four of its Old Master drawings were looted by the Nazis.

An anonymous family has asked for the four works, said to have been stolen between 1935 and 1945 from the re-nowned pre-war collection of Old Master drawings owned by Dr Arthur Feldmann.

After the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, the collector and his family were persecuted and the collection, numbering 750 drawings, was seized.

Descendants of the family are now pursuing their claim through the Commission for Looted Art in Europe. The four works are not in the first rank of the museum's collection but were reported to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Ranging from the 15th to the 18th centuries, they are: Niccolo dell'Abbate's Holy Family; Martin Johann Schmidt's Madonna and Child; St Dorothy and the Christ Child by a follower of Martin Schongauer; and a Nicholas Blakey design for a book illustration.

Three of the drawings were bought on behalf of the British Museum at a sale at Sotheby's in London in 1946; the fourth came through a bequest.

The museum has three options: to keep the works, give them up or pay compensation.

Dr Robert Anderson, direct-or of the museum, said: "We thank the Commission for Looted Art in Europe for the extensive documentation that they have provided.

"We have every sympathy for the family and we will be giving this matter our urgent attention.

"Our own research and inquiries will take some weeks, and we will make a further announcement in due course."

Anne Webber, who jointly chairs the commission, said: "The return of these four drawings would be of immense personal significance to the family whose lives were so tragically transformed by the Nazis."