New Witnesses Complicate the Fight Over a Modigliani at the Center of a New York Restitution Case
A legal battle over Amedeo Modigliani’s “Seated Man with a Cane” has taken a new turn in New York, where David Nahmad’s lawyers are asking a judge to reconsider an April 3 ruling that ordered the painting returned to the estate of Oscar Stettiner. The filing leans on fresh eyewitness testimony and provenance arguments that, if accepted, could shift the case from a question of wartime theft to one of mistaken identity.
At the center of the motion is a newly submitted affirmation from Frédéric Allain, who says he once saw a hidden Modigliani in the Paris apartment of the Van der Klip family. His description does not match “Seated Man with a Cane”: he recalled a work roughly 55 to 60 centimeters tall, showing only part of a man’s torso and no cane. Allain said he came forward only after reading coverage of the court’s decision.
Nahmad’s lawyers argue that this testimony supports their claim that Mondex, which represents Stettiner’s heirs, identified the wrong painting. They also cite a 1946 report describing the missing work as a self-portrait, unlike “Seated Man with a Cane,” and point to a new catalogue raisonné by scholar Marc Restellini that they say finds no connection between the painting and Stettiner.
Mondex rejected the argument. James Palmer, an international consultant with the firm, said, “We look to Mr. Nahmad to stop using his millions to delay justice and to honorably return the painting as he promised.” He added that even if another Modigliani had been in the Van der Klip home, there is no evidence linking it to the work looted from Stettiner. Mondex says “Seated Man with a Cane” remained in the family’s possession from 1944 until 1996 and bears Stettiner’s name.
The dispute has already produced a significant ruling. Judge Joel M. Cohen found that the painting was looted during World War II and should be returned to Stettiner’s estate, rejecting the Nahmad family’s arguments about gaps in the ownership record and concluding that the work could be traced to the wartime seizure.
The painting, which has been kept in Switzerland since its 1996 auction sale by a Nahmad-linked company, is estimated to be worth more than $25 million. Nahmad’s legal team has also filed a notice of appeal, ensuring that the provenance fight is far from over.
