Priceless wittman5/13/2023 ![]() ![]() One of the higher-profile cases Wittman will surely discuss during his presentation April 7 is his Copenhagen rescue of a $35 million Rembrandt self-portrait from 1630, the only portrait Rembrandt ever did on copper. That was where he first cultivated his interest in what has been termed “cultural property.” His extensive F.B.I education aside, Wittman says he owes much to his early time spent around those modest Asian works and those early memories. ![]() That painting, and numerous other artifacts. That was where his son remembers seeing the painting for the first time. Like many Americans in Asia, he “fell in love with all things Japanese, including my mother,” Wittman says. Returning stateside with Wittman’s mother and settling in Baltimore, Wittman’s father opened his own Asian antique shop. He was an Air Force pilot stationed there at the time. ![]() Wittman’s father, a Korean War veteran, acquired the small watercolor in Japan around 1950. In a sense, he says, it is this “really unique little painting” and items like it collected in his home that bring his story full circle. And thanks to the Flagler County Art League, Wittman will be telling his stories at the Flagler Auditorium next Tuesday (April 7), in a one-evening appearance that the league managed to secure as part of a fund-raising drive. ![]()
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