Providence, RI – A painting auctioned by Nazi authorities and now held by an elderly German baroness rightfully belongs to the estate of a late Jewish art dealer who was forced to sell it, a federal judge has ruled.
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U.S. District Court Judge Mary Lisi ordered Maria-Luise Bissonnette to turn over "Girl from the Sabiner Mountains" to representatives of the estate of Max Stern, a prominent Canadian art dealer who died in 1987.
"It's a very significant ruling," said Thomas Kline, a lawyer for Stern's estate. "It vindicates Dr. Stern's effort to try and hold onto his collection during the Nazi era, (and) to seek its return afterward."
Stern inherited his family's Dusseldorf art gallery in 1934. Three years later, Nazi authorities forced him to auction off its contents because Stern was a Jew.
Bissonnette's stepfather, Karl Wilharm, a Nazi party member, purchased the painting at the auction. Bissonnette eventually resettled in Rhode Island and inherited the painting from her parents.
Stern fled Germany after the auction, resettled in Montreal and tried to recover his lost artwork. He never tracked down "Girl from the Sabiner Mountains" before dying in 1987.
Stern's estate found the painting after Bissonnette attempted to auction it in 2005. They first tried to negotiate its return but when talks broke down, lawyers for the estate filed a lawsuit to get it back. [AP]