ABN Amro bank in Amsterdam has confiscated a number of works of art owned by Dirk Scheringa, the director of failed bank DSB. Sources say that additional works on display at DSB head office may also be taken.

Mr Scheringa used his art collection as guarantee for a multimillion euro mortgage for a museum, building of which began in 2008, but work was stopped in October 2009. The museum was declared bankrupt on 17 November.

When Mr Scheringa defaulted on his mortgage for the museum in October, lender ABN Amro seized most of the works on display in the old museum building in the village of Spanbroek, north of the Dutch capital. The Scheringa collection centres on contemporary realism and encompasses paintings as well as sculpture.

Jan van Tongeren's Still life against pink backdrop (1976) (DSB collection)