Jewish family appeals ruling in Nazi-seized masterpiece
US court said museum is rightful owner of Pissarro painting looted during World War II
LOS ANGELES — A Jewish family has appealed a federal California judge’s ruling declaring that a museum in Spain is the rightful owner of a painting seized from a woman fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939.
The Cassirer family filed an appeal of US District Judge John Walter’s ruling on Friday.
Walter ruled earlier this month that the museum owns the 1897 Pissarro masterpiece under Spanish law. He dismissed a lawsuit against the museum by the Cassirer family, whose ancestor was forced to give up the painting to the Nazis.
An attorney for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid has said the institution acquired the painting in good faith and has had it on public display for more than 20 years.
The family’s attorney argues that the museum’s position is morally and legally wrong.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.