PARIS.- Christie's announced Les Stern, une famille de collectionneurs auction to be held in Paris on December 11 and online from November 28 to December 12. A cosmopolitan banking dynasty whose name is etched in Europe's economic history since the 18th century, the Sterns are a long-established family – much like the Rothschilds with whom they are related – of renowned collectors, patrons and philanthropists. As such, their collection is subject to Nazi expropriation during World War II.

Christie's offers a selection of works that celebrate the eclectic tastes of one family, with a wide variety of lots and disciplines. These sales represent part of their collection and span three generations.

Kept within the family since their acquisition and thus unseen on the market for decades, these sales illustrate, through a selection of 360 lots, the history of a family through the tastes of some of its members for over more than a century.

The Sterns:

A family of entrepreneurs and bankers since the 17th century, the Sterns are also a family of collectors and patrons of the arts. After establishing a successful wine business in Frankfurt in 1805, Jacob Samuel Hayum Stern (1780-1833) soon transformed it into a bank. Thanks to the marriage of his sister Caroline Stern to Baron Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (1774-1855), two of his sons were trained at the M.A. Rothschild Bank. The next generation founded the A.J. Stern & Cie bank in Paris in 1824, Julius J. Stern in Berlin in 1833 and Stern Brothers in London in 1836. These institutions were at the heart of the Industrial Revolution and gave rise to major financial institutions that still exist today – such as BNP Paribas – and were an important partner in Deutsche Bank's expansion abroad.

For generations, the Sterns were also a major family of patrons. Their numerous donations to the Louvre Museum include a significant collection of objets d'art from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, as well as a bust of the opera singer Sophie Arnould (1740-1802) by Jean-Antoine Houdon. The bust was donated to the Louvre in 1947 by Marguerite Stern, née Fould (1866-1956), wife of Edgard Stern (1854-1937). Her grandsons, Gérard and Philippe Stern donated her portrait by Carolus Duran to the Musée du Petit Palais in 1978, where it is displayed next to the portrait of her sister-in-law Madame Louis Singer, née Thérèse Stern (1859-1935) by Paul Baudry (1828-1886). In addition to major Parisian museums, the museum in Bayonne is among those benefiting from the Sterns' generosity.

The collection offered for sale at Christie's includes works acquired by Edgard Stern (1854-1937), then head of the Paris branch of the family, by his daughter-in-law, Alice Stern (1906-2008), and their descendants.

Passionate about the old master painters, Edgard Stern mainly collected the works by 17th-century Dutch masters such as Un Marché aux poissons au bord d'une rivière by Mathys Schoevaerdts (1665-1723) and some very fine examples of 18th century French art, by such artists as Jean-Baptiste Pater, François-Hubert Drouais, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Hubert Robert. Important drawings by major artists of the 18th century are also featured in the sale, including Pierre-Paul Prud'hon and François Boucher. Edgard Stern displayed these works in his hôtel particulier on Avenue Montaigne in Paris or at the Château de Villette in the Oise region, which he acquired in 1900 and where some of the most lavish parties of the Belle Époque were held in a neo-Louis XIII setting designed for him.

With impeccable taste and excellent judgement, Alice Stern (1906-2008), wife of Maurice Stern, son of Edgard was very familiar with and interested in the forms of the emerging Art Nouveau. She was an authoritative expert on enamels, ceramics and glass art as evidenced by the beautiful collection of enamels from the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century by Marie Puisoye, Théophile Soyer, Georges Jean and Suzanne Mansuy, as well as the numerous pieces by Émile Gallé, Jean Dunand, Eugène Feuillâtre and Daum. The interesting collection of bronzes, notably by Aimé-Jules Dalou, René de Saint-Marceaux and Denys Puech also show her interest in sculpture from the same period. Alice Stern shared the interests of her uncle, Carle Dreyfus (1875-1952) curator at the Louvre Museum and prominent collector from whom she inherited two works by James Tissot (1838-1906) featured in the sale.

Finally, the sale is rounded off by an important collection of French silverware from the 17th and 18th centuries, some pieces themselves from such major collections as Meyer de Schauensee, Jules Strauss and David-Weill.

Expropriations and Restitutions:

During World War II, the collection of Edgard and Marguerite Stern suffered greatly from systematic plundering organized by the Nazi regime. Maurice, Alice, and their children managed to flee to New York in 1940, and the family residences were emptied by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) and by the German Embassy. Many of their works are then exhibited at the Jeu de Paume for Hermann Göring before being transferred to Germany or Austria. At the end of the war, a number of paintings and drawings from the collection of Edgard and his wife were returned to the family thanks to the invaluable work of Rose Valland and the Monuments Men. Some are now offered for sale.