Overview
- A New York Supreme Court ruling by Judge Joel M. Cohen orders dealer David Nahmad to return Amedeo Modigliani’s Seated Man With a Cane to the estate of Oscar Stettiner.
- The court found a direct chain from Stettiner’s ownership to Nazi seizure and a postwar order to restore the work, with no evidence he ever gave it up voluntarily.
- Auction records show a Nahmad-linked firm bought the painting at Christie’s in 1996 for $3.2 million and stored it in Switzerland, and Panama Papers files later identified Nahmad as the firm’s sole owner.
- Judge Cohen noted the 1996 sale included faulty provenance information and said Nahmad was not involved in that error before the auction.
- The portrait is valued at about $25 million to $30 million, and the ruling is likely to spur more restitution claims and stricter checks on hidden ownership in the art market.