Battle over ‘stolen’ Matisse goes to US Supreme Court

Britain’s National Gallery is to face an appeal in the United States Supreme Court after being sued for the return of a “stolen” Matisse portrait by descendents of the painting’s subject.

Three grandchildren of Greta Moll have demanded that the museum pay $30 million compensation or return “Portrait of Greta Moll,” which the French artist painted in 1908.

The family alleges that the painting was stolen from them in 1947 during the upheaval following the Soviet invasion of Berlin after the end of World War II.

The London museum, which has owned the portrait since 1979, has defended its position saying that, because it disappeared during Soviet rather than Nazi occupation, it was not bound to return it.

“Neither of the two US courts, which have already heard argument on this point, gave it any credibility,” the museum said in a statement. “If the Supreme Court declines to consider this point no further avenue of appeal will be open to the claimants.”

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02:36 - Source: CNN

“This is not a case involving Nazi looted art; the claimants allege that the family lost the painting due to the dishonest act of a family friend in 1947, many years before it was purchased in good faith by the National Gallery,” it added.

The museum declined to comment further.

The grandchildren are British-born Oliver Williams and Margarete Green, and Iris Filmer of Germany. They have been trying to gain possession of the painting for eight years.

According to them, Moll’s husband, Oskar, bought the painting from Matisse, but during the war gave it to a student in Switzerland for safekeeping. According to the family’s previous accounts of the portrait’s fate, the student absconded with it. The painting passed through several US art galleries until it was bought by the National Gallery in 1979, two years after Moll’s death.

The grandchildren’s US lawyer, David Rowland, issued a statement saying: “At the heart of the issue here is the question of whether cultural property, lost, stolen or looted due to war, should be returned to its true owners.”

The "Apollo and Venus" painting by 16th-century Dutch master Otto van Veen (1556-1629) was discovered in the closet of an art gallery in Iowa, and is likely worth over $4 million.

Scroll through the gallery for other examples of lost and found artworks.

One of a triptych of artworks created by Ben Enwonwu during the aftermath of Nigeria's bloody civil war, "Tutu" disappeared shortly after being painted in 1974. Its whereabouts remained the subject of intense speculation for over 40 years before the portrait was discovered in a family home late last year. In March, it sold for over $1.6 million (£1,205,000).

"Two Hacks" (1789) by George Stubbs was sold at a Christie's "Living with Art" sale in New York in June 2016 -- originally listed as a copy. Art dealer Archie Parker -- believing it to be a real Stubbs -- purchased the painting for $175,000 ($215,000 with premium). The painting is currently hanging on his stand at the annual British Antique Dealers' Association (BADA) Fair in London, with an asking price of $900,000.

Rembrandt's drawing of a dog has been in the collection of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig, Germany, since 1770, but was long thought to be the work of a different artist.

In 2016, a drawing attributed to Italian master Leonardo da Vinci was discovered in Paris, after a portfolio of works was brought to Tajan auction house for valuation by a retired doctor. It was valued at 15 million euros ($16 million).

The drawing also features sketches of light and shadows and notes on the back.

While researching for an episode of BBC's "Britain's Lost Masterpieces" series at the National Trust for Scotland's Haddo House collection in Aberdeenshire, art historian Bendor Grosvenor and a team of experts found a painting that could have been painted by artist Raphael.

In April 2016, a painting believed to be by Caravaggio was found in an attic in France. Experts said it could be worth $136 million.

The work was originally purchased for $25 dollars at the end of the 19th century. It could now be worth $26 million.

In 1911, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre by an Italian who had been a handyman for the museum. The famous painting was recovered two years later.

A statue called "Young Girl with Serpent" by Auguste Rodin was stolen from a home in Beverly Hills, California, in 1991. It was returned after someone offered it on consignment to Christie's auction house. Rodin, a French sculptor considered by some aficionados to have been the father of modern sculpture, lived from 1840 until 1917. His most famous work, "The Thinker," shows a seated man with his chin on his hand.

Picasso's "La Coiffeuse" ("The Hairdresser") was discovered missing in 2001 and was recovered when it was shipped from Belgium to the United States in December 2014. The shipper said it was a $37 piece of art being sent to the United States as a Christmas present. The feds say it was actually a stolen Picasso, missing for more than a decade and worth millions of dollars.

Italy's Culture Ministry unveils two paintings by the French artists Paul Gauguin and Pierre Bonnard on April 2, 2014. The paintings, worth millions of euros, were stolen from a family house in London in 1970, abandoned on a train and then later sold at a lost-property auction, where a factory worker paid 45,000 Italian lire for them -- roughly equivalent to 22 euros ($30).

A Renoir painting finished in the 1800s, loaned to a museum, reported stolen in 1951 and then bought at a flea market in 2010 has to be returned to the museum, a judge ruled on January 10, 2014. The 5½-by-9-inch painting, titled "Landscape on the Banks of the Seine," was bought for $7 at a flea market by a Virginia woman. The estimated value is between $75,000 and $100,000.

Seven famous paintings were stolen from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 2012, including Claude Monet's "Charing Cross Bridge, London." The paintings, in oil and watercolor, include Pablo Picasso's "Harlequin Head," Henri Matisse's "Reading Girl in White and Yellow," Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed" and Claude Monet's "Waterloo Bridge," seen here. Works by Gauguin and Meyer de Haan were also taken.