Ante Topić Mimara

The Mimara Museum

Ante Topić Mimara (7 April 1898 in Korušce – 30 January 1987 in Zagreb) was a controversial Croatian art collector and philanthropist. He donated his collection of more than 3,700 artifacts, ranging from the prehistoric to the 20th century periods to the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade and the Mimara Museum in Zagreb. Most masterpieces of the Italian Collection and Dutch Collection in the National Museum of Serbia had been donated by Mimara.^[1]

In post-war years, Mimara was a consultant to the Yugoslav military mission in Berlin and Munich, where he worked on returning plundered works of art to Yugoslavia. He sold the Cloisters Cross to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is vividly described by Thomas Hoving, who made the acquisition, in his book on the work.^[2]

Controversy

Several highly respected art historians and contemporaries of Ante Topić Mimara claim that he appears to have stolen many of the items in his art collection while working for the Yugoslav military at a World War II art collection point.^[1][2][3]

Notes

For notes referring to sources, see bibliography below.

1. Akinsha 2001
2. Hoving 1981
3. Hohne 1972

References

• Akinsha, Konstantin. "The Master Swindler of Yugoslavia", ARTnews, New York, September 2001.
• Hoving, Thomas (1981). King of the Confessors. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-43388-1.
• Hohne, Heinz (1972). The General Was A Spy. New York, New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan. ISBN 0-698-10430-7.