Modigliani Restitution Victory: $25 Million Painting Returned to Jewish Heir After 11-Year Legal Battle
Last week, a judge from the New York Supreme Court determined that Philippe Maestracci, the descendant of Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner, is the legitimate owner of Amedeo Modigliani's 1918 artwork Seated Man With a Cane, which has an estimated value of up to $25 million. This decision brings to a close an 11-year restitution battle involving billionaire art dealer David Nahmad. Judge Joel M. Cohen concluded that Stettiner possessed the painting prior to its illegal confiscation by the Nazis during World War II. Stettiner escaped Paris in 1939, and the artwork was auctioned off in 1944. Nahmad acquired it in 1996. The case was pursued under the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, requiring Nahmad to return the painting.
Key facts
- A New York Supreme Court judge ruled Oscar Stettiner's heir owns Modigliani's Seated Man With a Cane
- The painting is valued at up to $25 million and currently belongs to David Nahmad
- Stettiner's grandson Philippe Maestracci filed the case in 2015 after an 11-year legal battle
- Nazis seized the painting in Paris during World War II and sold it at auction in 1944
- Stettiner won a 1946 French court order for restitution, but the painting was not returned
- The work resurfaced at Christie's London in 1996, where Nahmad purchased it
- Archival notes from the Wildenstein Institute labeled the painting 'stolen' in 2008
- The case proceeded under the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act after a 2017 ruling
Entities
Artists
- Amedeo Modigliani
- Oscar Stettiner
- Philippe Maestracci
- James Palmer
- David Nahmad
- Joel M. Cohen
- John Van der Klip
- Roger Dutilleul
- J. Livengood
- Elizabeth Gorayeb
- Georges Menier
- Aaron Richard Golub
- Marcel Philippon
- Marc Restellini
- Henri Matisse
- Tom Wesselmann
Institutions
- New York Supreme Court
- Mondex Corporation
- Christie's London
- International Art Center
- Sotheby's New York
- Wildenstein Institute
- Venice Biennale
- New York Times
- Panama Papers
- Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act
- FIAC
- Grand Palais
- Paris Archives
- Toronto Star
- Getty Images
- Mondex
- Christie's
- The Art Newspaper
- Sotheby's
- The New York Times
- Hôtel Drouot
- New York State Supreme Court
- Le Journal des Arts
- Beaux Arts Magazine
- International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
- International Art Center (IAC) SA
- Mossack Fonseca
- UBS
- Fondation Vuitton
- British Museum
- International Art Centre
- Jewish Museum in New York
- Jewish Museum (New York)
- Artlyst
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Paris
- France
- London
- United Kingdom
- Geneva
- Switzerland
- Venice
- Italy
- Manhattan
- Panama
- Dordogne
- Lognes
- Zurich
- Beirut
- Lebanon
- Monaco
- Canada
- Egypt
- Greece