Daniel Leopold Wildenstein (11 September 1917 – 23 October 2001) was a French

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

, historian and owner-breeder of

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

race horse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

s. He was the third member of the family to preside over Wildenstein & Co., one of the most successful and influential art-dealerships of the 20th century. He was once described as "probably the richest and most powerful art dealer on earth".Andrews, Suzanna
"Bitter Spoils"
'' Vanity Fair'', March 1998. Retrieved 8 October 2012.

Early life and education

Wildenstein was born in

Verrières-le-Buisson Verrières-le-Buisson () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is from the centre of Paris, in the Essonne department just outside the inner ring of the Île-de-France. The commune borders the river Bièvre. History T ...

Essonne Essonne () is a department of France in the southern Île-de-France region. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659 across 194 communes.Cours Hattemer Cours Hattemer is a French private, secular school. It is independent of the state, and can follow its own teaching approach, which is structured and places great stress on repetition to drive home what has been learned. The school has many well-kn ...

and at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, graduating in 1938 and going on to study at the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and grande école located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy. Admission is ...

.Riding, Alan
"Daniel Wildenstein, 84, Head of Art-World Dynasty, Dies"
''The New York Times'', 26 October 2001. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 26 October 2001. Retrieved 6 October 2012.

Family art business

Wildenstein's grandfather, Nathan Wildenstein, established an art dealership on the

Rue La Boétie The rue La Boétie is a street in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, running from rue d'Astorg to avenue des Champs-Élysées. It is named in honour of Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563), friend of moralist Michel de Montaigne. History From 1640 ...

in Paris after fleeing his native Alsace during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. He first specialised in 18th-century French painting and sculpture, later expanding to Italian, Dutch, Flemish and Spanish art. Although he had been working in a tailor's shop when he began to trade in art he proved extremely successful, selling to European collectors such as

Edmond James de Rothschild Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild (Hebrew: הברון אברהם אדמונד בנימין ג'יימס רוטשילד - ''HaBaron Avraham Edmond Binyamin Ya'akov Rotshield''; 19 August 1845 – 2 November 1934) was a French memb ...

and later to Americans such as

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a maj ...

, and to the Kress,

Rockefeller Rockefeller is a German surname, originally given to people from the village of Rockenfeld near Neuwied in the Rhineland and commonly referring to subjects associated with the Rockefeller family. It may refer to: People with the name Rockefeller f ...

, and Mellon families. He opened a New York gallery in 1903 and one in London in 1925.Muchnic, Suzanne
"Daniel Wildenstein, 84; Art Dealer"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', 26 October 2001. Retrieved 8 October 2012. The Wildensteins gained a reputation as shrewd businessmen, stockpiling works to maximise their profits when released onto the market. Nathan built a huge inventory of European Old Master paintings, sculpture, drawings, furniture and decorative objects, to which Daniel's father, Georges, added

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and

Postimpressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

works. In 1978 Wildenstein & Co's New York storeroom included 20 Renoirs, 25 Courbets, 10 Van Goghs, 10 Cézannes, 10 Gauguins, 2 Botticellis, 8 Rembrandts, 8 Rubens, 9 El Grecos and 5 Tintorettos among a total inventory of 10,000 paintings."Daniel Wildenstein"
Dictionary of Art Historians. Retrieved 8 October 2012. The secrecy attached to these holdings led to a great deal of interest and speculation in the art world.Rarick, Gina

''The New York Times'', 3 June 2005. Retrieved 8 October 2012.

Career and publications

In 1940 Daniel Wildenstein went to New York to work for the family firm. He had already acted as Group Secretary of the French Pavilion at the World's Fair in 1937 and as exhibitions director at the Jacquemart-Andre Museum. He took over the running of Wildenstein & Co.'s Paris and New York branches in 1959 and those in London and Buenos Aires in 1963, the year his father died. A gallery in Tokyo was added in the early 1970s. As an art dealer Wildenstein was phenomenally successful. A 1998 profile of the family in '' Vanity Fair'' magazine asserted that his wealth was estimated at more than $5 billion. "His fortune," the magazine stated, "was the only one of that magnitude ever made in the art market." Like his father, Daniel Wildenstein established a reputation as a scholar and art historian. He revised and enlarged the catalogues published by his father and began work on his own projects, investing in the acquisition of archival material and establishing the

Wildenstein Institute The Wildenstein Institute was a French art institute that published ''catalogues raisonnés'' and scholarly inventories. History The Institute was founded in 1970 by Daniel Wildenstein as the ''Fondation Wildenstein'', and it was renamed the Wild ...

to issue catalogues raisonné which became the authority for authenticating the works of major French artists."Alec Wildenstein: Art dealer and racehorse owner who divorced in a blaze of publicity"

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, 22 February 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2012. His five-volume

catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

of the work of

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

was published between 1976 and 1992. His two-volumes on

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

appeared in 1976 and 1977, those on

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

in 1977 and 1977, and a book on

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

in 2001. He acted as editor-in-chief of the ''

Gazette des Beaux-Arts The ''Gazette des Beaux-Arts'' was a French art review, founded in 1859 by Édouard Houssaye, with Charles Blanc as its first chief editor. Assia Visson Rubinstein was chief editorial secretary under the direction of George Wildenstein from 1936 ...

'' from 1963 and in 1971 was elected a member of the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

. Although he officially retired in 1990, Wildenstein is reported to have maintained a close control over the running of the business. The number of Wildenstein galleries around the world shrank in his later years until it contained only two: Wildenstein & Co. and PaceWildenstein, both in New York. PaceWildenstein was established in 1993 as a joint venture with the Pace Gallery to deal in contemporary art. The collaboration came to an end in 2010. In 1999 Wildenstein published a series of his interviews entitled ''Marchand d’Art''.

Controversies

Andre Malraux

Wildenstein & Co reopened in Paris after the Second World War but they ended their operations there in the early 1960s after the French minister of culture, Andre Malraux, publicly accused Georges Wildenstein of bribing a ministry official to authorize the export and sale abroad of

Georges de La Tour Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652) was a French Baroque painter, who spent most of his working life in the Duchy of Lorraine, which was temporarily absorbed into France between 1641 and 1648. He painted mostly religious chia ...

's painting ''The Fortune Teller''. The case never went to court and Daniel Wildenstein subsequently accused Malraux of being motivated by malice.Carvajal, Doreen and Vogel, Carol
"Venerable Art Dealer Is Enmeshed in Lawsuits"
''The New York Times'', 19 April 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

Nazi confiscations

More recently Wildenstein & Co has become embroiled in a number of controversies connected with the Nazi confiscation of art works during the Second World War, and with the nature of Georges Wildenstein's relationship with the German regime at that time.Riding, Alan

''The New York Times'', 20 April 1998. Retrieved 9 October 2012.Napack, Jonathan. "The Wildenstein Family", ''

Spy Magazine ''Spy'' was a satirical monthly magazine published from 1986 to 1998. Based in New York City, the magazine was founded by Kurt Andersen and E. Graydon Carter, who served as its first editors, and Thomas L. Phillips Jr., its first publisher. '' ...

'', October 1991
Link to article on Google Books
Retrieved 10 October 2012.Konigsberg, Eric. "What Money Can't Buy",

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

, 15 December 1997
Link to article on Google Books
Retrieved 10 October 2012. In May 2000 the Wildensteins lost a court case they had brought in Paris against the art historian

Héctor Feliciano Hector Feliciano (born 1952) is a Puerto Rican journalist and author whose book "''The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art''" has shed light on an estimated 20,000 works of art plundered by the Nazis; eac ...

, whose book, ''The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art'', suggested that although Georges Wildenstein had fled France for America in 1941, the business had continued to trade profitably with the Nazis. Daniel Wildenstein's sons sued for defamation but lost the case.Lee, Felicia, R
"Wildensteins Sued Over Looted Art"
''The New York Times'', 28 July 1999. Retrieved 9 October 2012. In 1997 the Wildenstein family was sued in New York by the heirs of

Alphonse Kann Alphonse Kann (14 March 1870 in Vienna – 1948 in London) was a prominent France, French art collector of Jewish heritage. He was a childhood playmate and adult friend of the writer Marcel Proust, who incorporated several of Kann's features ...

, a prominent Jewish art collector. They claimed that eight illuminated manuscripts, dating from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries and now in the possession of Wildenstein & Co, had been looted by the Nazis in 1940. The Wildensteins asserted that the books were owned legitimately before the war, that they had been seized from their family safe in October 1940, and that they had then been recovered after the liberation of France. Daniel Wildenstein suggested that inventory markings on the manuscripts apparently connecting them to the Kann collection were of no significance and suggested that claims to ownership made after so long an interval of time had no validity.Riding, Alan
"Collector's Family Tries to Illuminate the Past of Manuscripts in France"
''The New York Times'', 3 September 1997. Retrieved 9 October 2012.

Reinach estate

In June 2011 Daniel's son, Guy Wildenstein, was charged by the French authorities with concealing art that had been reported as missing or stolen. The police seized 30 artworks from the vault of the Wildenstein Institute, at least 20 of which, including sculptures by the Italian artist

Rembrandt Bugatti Rembrandt Bugatti (16 October 1884 – 8 January 1916) was an Italian sculptor, known primarily for his bronze sculptures of wildlife subjects. During World War I, he volunteered for paramedical work at a military hospital in Antwerp, an experie ...

, two sketches by

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...

and a pastel by

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

, were claimed to have been originally part of the collection of

Joseph Reinach Joseph Reinach (30 September 1856 – 18 April 1921) was a French author and politician. Biography He was born in Paris. His two brothers Salomon Reinach and Théodore Reinach would later be known in the field of archaeology. After studying at L ...

. Daniel Wildenstein had acted as executor of the estate of Reinach's daughter in 1972 and had been charged with responsibility for distributing the collection, which was held at the Wildenstein Institute, among the heirs.Carvajal, Doreen and Vogel, Carol
"Ignorance Is Defense in a Case of Lost Art"
''The New York Times'', 20 June 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2012."Did Art Dealer Guy Wildenstein Gather a Multimillion-Dollar Cache of Stolen Art?"
Blouinartinfo.com, 4 February 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

Thoroughbred horse racing

Wildenstein was a major figure in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

, a four-time winner of the

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...

and six times France's leading owner. His horses, many of which he bred, raced under the name of the Allez France Stables and captured many of the most important races in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

."French Breeder/Owner Daniel Wildenstein Dead at 84"

The Blood-Horse ''BloodHorse'' is a multimedia news organization covering Thoroughbred racing and breeding that started with a newsletter first published in 1916 as a monthly bulletin put out by the Thoroughbred Horse Association.

, 27 October 2001. Retrieved 8 October 2012. His first win in the Arc came with the filly Allez France in 1974. He won again with

All Along All Along (7 April 1979 – 23 February 2005) was a champion Thoroughbred racemare that was foaled in France. She was one of the top fillies of the last part of the 20th century, racing mostly in Europe. All Along was named into the Nationa ...

in 1983, with

Sagace Sagace (1980–1989) was a French Thoroughbred champion racehorse. His sire Luthier had been the Leading sire in France in 1976. Trained by Patrick Biancone and ridden by Yves St. Martin for prominent owner/breeder Daniel Wildenstein, at age t ...

the following year and with the colt

Peintre Celebre Peintre Celebre (17 March 1994 – 19 October 2018) was an American-bred, French-trained champion thoroughbred racehorse. He won the French Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1997. Background Peintre Celebre was bred and owned by Dani ...

, who broke the course record when winning in 1997. The homebred filly

was named horse of the year in France and across the Atlantic, after a series of wins in America followed her victory in the Arc. Among Wildenstein's other successful horses were

Pawneese Pawneese (5 April 1973 – 1997) was an Irish-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse who was Europe's top filly in 1976. Background Pawneese was bred in Ireland by her owner, Daniel Wildenstein, she was sired by Grand Prix de Vichy winne ...

, Madelia, and

Flying Water Flying Water (8 April 1973 – 25 June 1978) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which was disrupted by injury, she ran eleven times and won six races between July 1975 and June 1978. After winning her only race as a two- ...

. Wildenstein was a famously irascible owner. His criticism of Pat Eddery's riding of Buckskin in the Ascot Gold Cup of 1978 caused the trainer

Peter Walwyn Peter Tyndall Walwyn, (1 July 1933 – 7 December 2017) was a British racehorse trainer. He was based at stables in the Lambourn, Berkshire, area and enjoyed his period of greatest success in the mid-1970s when he was British flat racing Cham ...

to ask Wildenstein to remove his horses from his yard. They were removed to the care of

Henry Cecil Sir Henry Richard Amherst Cecil (11 January 1943 – 11 June 2013) was a British flat racing horse trainer. Cecil was very successful, becoming Champion Trainer ten times and training 25 domestic Classic winners. These comprised four winners ...

, forming a partnership that had considerable success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, only for that relationship to break down in 1985 over criticism of Cecil's then stable-jockey

Lester Piggott Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

. Piggott responded by describing the Wildensteins as "inveterate bad losers".

Personal life

In 1939, Daniel Wildenstein married Martine Kapferer, the daughter of a wealthy French Jewish family; they had two sons,

Alec Alec or Aleck is a Scottish form of the given name Alex. It may be a diminutive of the name Alexander or a given name in its own right. Notable people with the name include: People *Alec Aalto (1942–2018), Finnish diplomat * Alec Acton (1938– ...

and Guy. The marriage was dissolved and he married secondly, in 1978, to Sylvia Roth.

Death and inheritance

Wildenstein died in 2001 at the age of 84 in a Paris hospital. He was survived by his second wife and his two sons from a first marriage. Guy Wildenstein assumed responsibility for the art dealership while

Alec Wildenstein Alec Nathan Wildenstein (August 5, 1940 – February 18, 2008) was a French-born American billionaire businessman, art dealer, racehorse owner, and breeder. Biography Born in Marseille, Wildenstein was raised in New York City where his family own ...

inherited control of the family's horse racing and breeding operations."French Owner Alec Wildenstein Dead"

, 19 February 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012. After his death, Wildenstein's fortune became the subject of an extended legal dispute. In 2005 the Court of Appeal in Paris ruled that Sylvia Wildenstein had been deceived into signing away her inheritance by her stepsons, who claimed that she would otherwise face huge tax bills and a possible criminal investigation. In fact Wildenstein had placed two paintings, a Fragonard and a Boucher, with the investment bank

Lazard Frères Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's ...

to cover his estate's tax liabilities.Willsher, Kim
"Cultural Exchange: Wildenstein art dealers scrutinized"

, 20 February 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2012. The court ruled that Sylvia Wildenstein was entitled to half of her late husband's personal estate, much of which she claimed had disappeared into foreign trusts, and ordered her stepsons to pay 20 million euros as an advance on a fortune described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as having been "variously estimated from 43 million to 4 billion euros". In 2010 Sylvia Wildenstein pursued a criminal case alleging that this tax evasion had been ignored by French ministers connected to her stepson Guy Wildenstein through his involvement with the political party the UMP.Deimling, Kate
"Art Dealer Guy Wildenstein Investigated in France for Tax Fraud and Corruption"
Blouinartinfo.com, 3 November 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

References

* "Les Wildenstein", Magali Serre, Lattès. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wildenstein, Daniel 1917 births 2001 deaths People from Verrières-le-Buisson 20th-century French Jews French racehorse owners and breeders French art collectors French art dealers Impressionism

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

Owners of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners Sportspeople from Essonne