J. H. Smidt van Gelder

Joan Hendrik Smidt van Gelder (6 April 1887, Amsterdam - 3 June 1969, Rheden)[2][3][4] was the director of the children's hospital in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

His brother Pieter Smidt van Gelder also was an avid art collector.

In 1944, after Operation Market Garden during the Second World War, Nazi forces led by Helmut Temmler looted Arnhem and stole 14 paintings that Smidt van Gelder had sent to a bank in the town for safe keeping.

In 2017, The Mansion House in London, in whose collection the painting by then resided, agreed to return the painting to Smidt van Gelder's daughter, Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck, after an investigation by Anne Webber of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe established its looted status.

[5][6] The Oyster Meal was restituted to Smidt van Gelder's heir on November 6, 2017.

Jacob Ochtervelt , The Oyster Meal , oil on canvas, c.1664-1645. [ 1 ]
Dr Smidt van Gelder in his laboratory in the Children's Hospital Arnhem