French Court Orders Restitution of £1.2m Pissarro Sold at Sotheby's

A French court has ordered the cancellation of Sotheby's London sale of a Camille Pissarro landscape sold for £1.2m, and its immediate restitution to the heirs of Jewish banker Salomon Flavian. The 5 November ruling found the painting was looted in Paris in 1941. Sotheby's now has two months to reveal the "complete identity" of the buyer, subject to a daily penalty of €1,000 for any delay.

The painting, Darse de pêche et bassin Duquesne (fishing dock and Duquesne basin, 1902), shows the port of Dieppe in Normandy. It sold at Sotheby's London on 25 June 2024.

What did the auction house disclose?

The Sotheby's catalogue stated that the work had been owned by Flavian from 1935 and was registered in the Répertoire des biens spoliés, the repertory of looted art released by the French government in 1947. It also indicated that the work was "offered for sale pursuant to a settlement between the current owner and heirs of Salomon Flavian". Sotheby's told the court that the heirs' consent had been obtained by the Mondex Corporation, a Toronto-based company specialised in the return of looted art.

At a hearing on 18 September, Corinne Hershkovitch, lawyer for seven heirs of Flavian, said the agreement had been signed by only two relatives. The others were not consulted. In court, Mondex and Sotheby's endorsed a study concluding the painting had been acquired in the late 1930s by the British artist and collector Edward Le Bas, from the dealer Paul Rosenberg, and was therefore no longer part of Flavian's collection seized by the Nazis in 1941.

What did the judges decide?

The court rejected that account. It found "no direct and convincing evidence" of the alleged transactions. The Flavian family's research produced "a set of precise, serious and concurring elements demonstrating that Pissarro's work was indeed looted during" the Second World War, according to the judges.

A Sotheby's London spokesperson said the house is "disappointed by the judgement regarding the restitution", but "welcomes the decision to dismiss all claims against Sotheby's". "The history of the artwork is complex," the spokesperson added. "We fully recognise the profound losses suffered by the Flavian family during the Nazi era and, from the outset, have approached this matter responsibly and with the care and respect it deserves."

"It is a very important ruling, which opens the way to a restitution that the Flavian family has demanded since the war," Hershkovitch told The Art Newspaper. "It shows Mondex's failure in its mission, and now Sotheby's has to bear the responsibility for having sold a looted artwork."

Will there be an appeal?

Mondex's lawyer, Melina Wolman, says the company intends to appeal a judgement that, she says, is "posing major difficulties in regard with historical factors". She argues that the name of Le Bas, who owned the Pissarro in the 1950s, appears on an entry in the catalogue raisonné edited by Paul Rosenberg in 1939. The court ruled this was only one among "contradictory elements". Sotheby's and Mondex, the judges found, "did not support this hypothesis by any direct proof of such sales, at a time when France was at peace and the art market well structured".

In court, Remi Sermier, a lawyer for Sotheby's, also disputed the court's jurisdiction over a sale made in London. The court answered that, under French law, the annulment of the 1941 dispossession acts makes all subsequent sales of the work null and void. However, the court chose not to cancel the agreement signed between Mondex and the two heirs who waived all their rights to the painting just before the sale, in exchange for a share of the sale price.

What does this change for the art market?

The ruling could trigger a cascade of litigation internationally. Sotheby's is "considering whether to join the appeal", a spokesperson said, stressing that "client confidentiality is of paramount importance" and that the house is not ready to willingly disclose the identity of the buyer. The spokesperson added: "There is a procedure that will need to be followed in order to enforce the decision in the UK."

If the Flavian family succeeds, it will then have to face the current possessor, who can demand compensation from Sotheby's. The auction house, in turn, could turn against Mondex and the consignor: sources close to the case say the settlement agreement Mondex and the seller signed contains an indemnity clause of which Sotheby's is the beneficiary. The case now moves to enforcement in Britain and a possible appeal, with the identity of the buyer as the immediate point of contention.