Parisian court orders return of Nazi-looted painting

• A Parisian court has ordered the return of a Nazi-looted painting by the Dutch artist.
• The heirs of the owner are to receive it back from Christie’s auction company.
• The same piece had previously been auctioned by Christie’s for 60,000 pounds in 2005.

The heirs of the owners of the Nazi-looted painting, a cousin of author Marcel Proust, were ordered by a Parisian court on Friday to receive it back from Christie’s auction company.

According to the court decision, which was viewed by AFP, Nazi occupiers took “The Penitent Magdalene” by Dutch artist Adriaen van der Werff (1659-1722) from Lionel Hauser in October 1942.

After German soldiers attacked, Hauser—a French Jew—fled to the south of the country. He was Proust’s distant cousin and confidant, the author of the 20th-century classic “In Search of Lost Time”.

The owner of the picture didn’t inquire about its whereabouts until 2017, when he asked the London-based auction company when it would be sold.

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The same piece had previously been auctioned by Christie’s for 60,000 pounds ($74,000 at today’s exchange rates) in 2005.

This time, it looked into the painting’s history and learned that it had once been a part of Hauser’s collection and was also featured on a list of artifacts that had been looted from France during the war.

According to French media reports, it got in touch with Hauser’s heirs and suggested dividing the sale proceeds, but the offer was rejected.

The court also mandated that Christie’s pay the heirs $10,000 ($10,900) and disclose the identity of the painting’s current owner, as well as the painting’s current location and sales history.

The case was the most recent in France involving the return of Nazi-looted artwork to its original owners.

A US Senate assessment estimates that the Nazis stole some 600,000 objects of art from Europe. Cases intended to return property to its original owners have frequently been addressed in courts on both sides of the Atlantic.

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