Year 1918 Artist Amedeo Modigliani | Medium Oil on canvas Created 1918 | |
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Dimensions 126 cm × 75 cm (50 in × 30 in) Amedeo Modigliani artwork Portrait Of Lunia Czechovska, Paul Guillaume, Portrait of Madame Georges, Portrait of Jeanne Hebutern | ||
Seated Man with a Cane is a 1918 oil on canvas painting by the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. The painting is currently the subject of a complex ownership dispute.
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Early sales
The painting was purchased by the International Art Center (IAC) at a 1996 Christie's auction in London for £2 million. In 2008, the painting was put up for auction by Sotheby's in New York, but no bids were made for the painting.
Stettiner claim
Philippe Maestracci claims ownership of the painting through inheritance through his grandfather. According to Maestracci, the painting was taken from his grandfather, Jewish Parisian art dealer Oscar Stettiner, by the Nazis during the German occupation of France. In 1939, Oscar Stettiner left the painting behind in France ahead of the German occupation. The Nazis took administration over the painting in 1941 and auctioned off the painting in 1944. In 1946, Oscar Stettiner filed a claim to recover the painting, but the French authorities were ultimately unable to track down the painting.
In 2011, Maestracci pressed charges against Helly Nahmad and David Nahmad in the US federal court in New York to recover ownership rights to the painting. The Nahmads denied that they were the owners of the painting, claiming that they were merely exhibiting the painting on the behalf of the IAC, a Panamanian corporation listed as the titular owner of the paintings. Since then, Maestracci has filed multiple lawsuits in an attempt to recover the painting. According to the Panama Papers released in 2016, "David Nahmad, the family leader, has been the company’s sole owner since January 2014”. In April, 2016, Swiss authorities seized the painting from the Geneva Freeport as part of an ongoing investigation.