oil on canvas
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
painting by the Italian artist
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...
. The painting has been the subject of a complex ownership dispute since 1946.
Ownership history
Early sales
The painting was purchased by the International Art Center (IAC) at a 1996
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
auction in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
for £2 million. In 2008, the painting was put up for auction by
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
in New York, but no bids were made.
Stettiner claim
Philippe Maestracci claims ownership of the painting through inheritance through his grandfather. According to Maestracci, the painting was taken from his grandfather, Jewish Parisian art dealer
Oscar Stettiner
Oscar Stettiner (1878 – 1948) was a British art dealer, based in Paris, and whose art collection was "seized and auctioned during the Nazi occupation of France."
Biography
Oscar Stettiner was born in 1878, the son of Henri Jules Stettiner and hi ...
, by the Nazis during the
German occupation of France
The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
. In 1939, Oscar Stettiner left the painting behind in France ahead of the German occupation. The Nazis took administration over the painting in 1941 and auctioned it off in 1944. In 1946, Oscar Stettiner filed a claim to recover the painting, but the French authorities were ultimately unable to find it. However, the French court recognized Oscar Stettiner as the owner of this painting, which still bears his name on label on the back of the painting.
In 2011, Maestracci filed a claim against Helly Nahmad and
David Nahmad
David Nahmad (born 1947) is a Monegasque billionaire and former fine art dealer. A descendant of a in the US federal court in New York to recover the painting. The Nahmads initially denied that they were the owners of the painting, claiming that they were merely exhibiting it on the behalf of the IAC, a Panamanian corporation listed as its titular owner. However the
Panama Papers
The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...
investigation launched by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with pe ...
, revealed that Nahmad was in fact the owner of IAC. Since then, Maestracci has filed multiple lawsuits in an attempt to recover the painting. According to the
Panama Papers
The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...
released in 2016, "David Nahmad, the family leader, has been the company’s sole owner since January 2014”. In April, 2016, Swiss authorities seized the painting from the
Geneva Freeport
Geneva Freeport () is a warehouse complex in Geneva, Switzerland, for the storage of art and other valuables and collectibles. It is the oldest and largest freeport facility, and the one with the most artworks, with 40% of its collection being a ...
as part of an ongoing investigation.
Following a court decision in 2017, Maestracci has standing to continue with his 2014 lawsuit to reclaim the work. In the January 2020 edition of the Art Newspaper new evidence is referred to with respect to a 1950 document, which contains a photograph of the painting on one side and the words "stolen" and "Stettiner family" on the reverse. This new evidence is further proof that the ''Seated Man With a Cane'' is the very same painting as the one stolen from Oscar Stettiner.
See also
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Paintings by Amedeo Modigliani
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
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List of claims for restitution for Nazi-looted art
The list of restitution claims for art looted by the Nazis or as a result of Nazi persecution is organized by the country in which the paintings were located when the return was requested.
Australia and New Zealand
Austria
Belgium
Ge ...
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The Holocaust in France
The Holocaust in France was the persecution, deportation, and annihilation of Jews and Roma between 1940 and 1944 in occupied France, metropolitan Vichy France, and in Vichy-controlled French North Africa, during World War II. The persecution b ...