Pissarro Nazi Art Dispute

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Museum in Madrid will appeal last month's ruling by a Los Angeles court not to dismiss a lawsuit for the return of a Pissarro painting said to have been stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish family, reports the New York Times. The work, Rue St.-Honoré, Après-Midi, Effet de Pluie, 1897, has been on display at the state-owned museum since 1993, when the Spanish government paid $350 million to buy Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza's collection. The Spanish government had filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by Claude Cassirer of San Diego, who says his grandmother was forced to sell the painting in 1939 for what was then $360; it is now estimated to be worth twenty million dollars. Irish Art