is possible that the fate of the 480-year-old works from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, U.S., brushes Lucas Cranach the Elder (Lukas Cranach the Elder), depicting Adam and Eve in the near future finally resolved: applying for a plaintiff Mara von Sacher (Marei Von Saher) recently asked the District Court of Appeals to recognize a masterpiece stolen Cranach and pass it to the legitimate heir of the owner, that is it. work belonged to her father in law, Gaudstikkeru Jacques (Jacques Goudstikker), a major collector niderlandskomu-Jew who fled from the occupied Netherlands in 1940. His collection was requisitioned by Hermann Goering (Hermann Goering).
Heir to the dealer wants to challenge the results of the negotiations of their relatives to the Netherlands Government, held after the war, which it considers unfair. Previously, the district court considered the outcome of the long negotiations fair and are in accordance with the laws of the United States, in particular the provision of "external restitution." Under this provision, after the war, the U.S. Army returned the artwork to the countries from which they were illegally removed by the Nazis, providing these governments to determine and locate the rightful owners or their heirs. The previous court decision could affect the very common practice in the U.S. restitution, serve as an example of failure heirs products to meet their demands, said Los-Angeles Times.
however, and the museum does not intend to abandon their rights to the diptych, which in 2006 was estimated at 24 million dollars. The problem is that the dealer's widow Gaudstikker Desi (Desi Gaudstikker) after the war had not appealed to the Government of the Netherlands with a legal requirement to return it to a certified operation, and in 1960 sold the Netherlands, "Adam and Eve" to the American citizen-Scherbatov George Stroganov, who in 1971 sold the diptych founder of the museum in Pasadena, Norton Simon (Norton Simon). The situation is aggravated by the fact that, according to the Stroganoff-Shcherbatova, the Bolsheviks seized illegally Cranach painting at his aristocratic ancestors even during the revolution of 1917, so that Gaudstikker Jacques, who bought the work at the Soviet-German auction in Berlin in 1931, it was never rightful owner.
However, persistence Mara von Sacher warms the fact that in 2006 the Dutch government is still returned to her 200 objects from the collection of her father in law, so that she sees no reason why Cranach's paintings to be made an exception.
Prepared by Mary Estrova, AI
