June 23, at Impressionist and Modern auction Christie's a picture with the complex fate - «Naberezhnaya Malakeh Institute» Camille Pissarro (Camille Pissarro). The owner of the work, 80-year-old Gisela Berman-Fischer (Gisela Bermann-Fischer), received his restitution last year. The work came to auction with estimeytom 0,9-1,5 million pounds (1,5-2,4 million dollars). But an hour before the start of its auction decided not to sell. The reason - has announced yet another heir.

picture of Pissarro wrote in 1903, several months before his death. He captures on canvas view from the window of his room, located on the third floor of the hotel at the Quay Voltaire. In 1907, I bought a cloth collector of Jewish descent, Samuel Fisher (Samuel Fischer) - founder of the influential German publishers Fischer Verlag, printing works of famous authors such as Thomas Mann (Thomas Mann), Hermann Hesse (Hermann Hesse), and Franz Kafka (Franz Kafka).

Fisher died in 1934. The picture had inherited his daughter Brigitte (Brigitte) and her husband, Gottfried Berman (Gottfried Bermann). In those years, Jews remain in Germany, it was dangerous, and the wife had fled to Vienna. Four years later, on the eve of anshlyusa Austria, they had to flee and the country, leaving behind many works of art from its collection, including paintings Pissarro. Hitlerites abducted and in 1940 it was sold at auction Dorotheum.

After the war, Gottfried accepting surname Berman-Fischer, it was possible to restore many of the stolen works. But the canvas Pissarro were unable to find - it was as if the water thing. After the death of Gottfried in 1995 continued the search for his daughter Gisela, a former actress. She learned that the painting is in the art dealer Bruno vine (Bruno Lohse), during the war involved the confiscation of works of art from the collections of France. It turned out that the vine a long time hid the canvas in a bank vault. According to a court order has been restored to Gisela. To find a canvas and conquer it from the vine and the managers of his estate (the dealer had died in the 2007-meters), it has lasted 13 years and 500 thousand Swiss francs. According to her, the amount that could be the product of yesterday's auction at Christie's, would be a worthy compensation for your time, money and emotional strength.

But the recently announced yet another contender for the job - 38-year-old Itay SCHOFFMAN (Itai Shoffman), nephew and grandson of Samuel Gisela Fischer. It represents the heirs of those publishers who «less fortunate in life», as Gottfried, Brigitte and their children.

U of Samuel Fisher and his wife had three children Hedviga - Brigitta, Gerhart (Gerhart), died in 1913, and Hildegard (Hildegard). The latter was a grandmother SCHOFFMAN. According to him, Hildegard was «black sheep» of the family. In 1941, when she and her mother Hedviga moved to New York, she had a natural child - a daughter Monica (Monika), expectant mother SCHOFFMAN. Hildegard was an invalid. She died in 2005 in absolute poverty.

According to the Berlin lawyer Christopher Paul (Christoph Paul), specializing in matters of inheritance, in 1933 Samuel and Hedviga written testament, which states that all property should be divided in half between Brigitte and Hildegard. In a letter Hedviga dated year 1946, mentions that the Pissarro painting, if it is found to be bequeathed to Hildegard.

Itay SCHOFFMAN told the newspaper Times, that Ms. Berman-Fischer is well known heirs Hildegard, but decided to exclude them from all cases involving the work of Pissarro. He hoped that she give him half the proceeds for the auction amount. But on the day of the auction Shoffmanu suggested that only twenty per cent. Of course, his proposal is not arranged. Eventually it was decided not to put a picture up for sale, until finding out who can be considered its rightful owner.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova, AI

Sources: entertainment.timesonline.co.uk , artinvestment.ru