His father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, was one of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's favorite art dealers. But the discovery of the paintings, was made public only in 2013 after investigators had sorted through them, finding paintings by Picasso, Gaugin, Pissaro, Dix and Renoir and others.
Prosecutors discovered the secret collection in 2010 after customs officials stopping Gurlitt on a train found him to be carrying a large sum of cash he had received for one of the paintings. It was part of a trove of 1,500 artworks found hidden in the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of a Nazi-era art dealer. 'The heirs of Paul Rosenberg are happy to confirm their receipt of Henri Matisse' 'Woman sitting in an armchair,' which was found in Cornelius Gurlitt's Munich home in 2012,' the family said in a statement. The Matisse painting had been stolen from Jewish art collector Paul Rosenberg during the Nazi period.
The lawyer Christopher Marinello, who represents the Rosenberg family, received the painting 'Woman Sitting in an Armchair' by Henri Matisse in Munich on Friday.Ī court in the city had ruled that two paintings - the Matisse and Two Riders on the Beach by Max Liebermann - could be given back to the descendants, who have been battling for decades for their return.
