California museum sued over Renaissance painting looted by Nazis

Two separate lawsuits seek to recover art works stolen during World War II under a 2024 California law that calls for state law to decide ownership claims.LOS ANGELES (CN) — The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, faces a new lawsuit to recover a pair of life-size Renaissance paintings confiscated by the Nazis when the Jewish owners had to flee the Netherlands in 1940.The Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles, as assignees of the sole surviving heir of Jacques Goudstikker, sued Monday in LA County Superior Court to recover the diptych “Adam and Eve,” painted around 1530 by Lucas Cranach the Elder.“By pursuing the recovery of the Cranachs, we are seeking to reverse a great injustice perpetrated by the Nazi theft of a Jewish family’s property, and securing the resources that will enable us to provide for the many needs of thousands of impoverished Holocaust survivors in the greater Los Angeles area so they can live in dignity for the remainder of their lives,” Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of the Federation-Council, said in a statement**.**Marei von Saher, the heir of Goudstikker, had sued the Norton Simon in federal court in 2007, but after a 10-year legal battle, the Ninth Circuit ended up siding with the museum.The new attempt to recover the paintings comes in the wake of a 2024 California law giving state residents a two-year window to sue for the return of art works lost through political persecution.The statute applies to previously unsuccessful lawsuits to recover Nazi-looted art works in federal court and it requires the use of California law, which unlike some foreign laws, doesn’t recognize legal transfer of title by art thieves.Goudstikker, one of the most prominent and important Old Masters art dealers in the Netherlands, had to flee in May 1940 with his wife and one-year-old son a boat after the German invasion and takeover of the country.Much of his collection, including the Cranach diptych, was seized by Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler’s second-in-command.Although Goudstikker’s widow was able to recover part of the collection after the war, her acrimonious settlement with the Dutch government in 1952 didn’t include the works stolen by Göring, which remained in the Netherlands.The Dutch government sold the Cranach paintings to George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff, a member of the Russian noble family, who wrongfully claimed the paintings belonged to his family.In later proceedings with the Dutch government, von Saher was able to recover another 200 works of art from her father-in-law’s collection.The Norton Simon bought the Cranach diptych 1971 from Stroganoff for $800,000.“After decades of litigation, court after court including the United States Supreme Court has confirmed that the Norton Simon Art Foundation has proper title to Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder,” the museum said, referring to the 2018 Ninth Circuit ruling and the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up the case. “We will continue to make these important artworks accessible to the public, as we have since 1971.”In a separate lawsuit filed late Monday in federal court in LA — also prompted by the two-year window to bring such claims under California law — the daughters of a Jewish woman who was imprisoned in Auschwitz and forced to paint watercolors of Roma prisoners for Josef Mengele, the notorious “Angel of Death,” sued the museum of the former extermination camp for the return of their mother’s work.“This case is the paradigm case Section 338.2 was enacted to permit: a California family seeking the return of Watercolors created by their Jewish mother under Nazi coercion at Auschwitz and withheld by a Polish state museum for decades despite the Museum’s own repeated acknowledgments of the family’s rights,” the daughters of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt said, referring to the 2024 California statute.Both lawsuits also cite the 2025 HEAR Act, a federal law that seeks to eliminate several procedural defenses and substantive doctrines that have been exploited by museums and foreign governments for decades to thwart Holocaust families from having their claims decided on the merits.The Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles is represented by attorneys of Arnold & Porter; the sisters, Michele Babbitt Kane and Karin Wendy Babbitt, are represented by attorneys from Sullivan & Cromwell.Categories / Arts, CourtsSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads