Restitution Suit Against Lloyd Webber Dismissed

NEW YORK—The New York Supreme Court has dismissed a suit by a German collector seeking restitution of a $60 million Picasso painting in the collection of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, reports Bloomberg. Julius Schoeps claimed his great-uncle, the German banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, was forced to sell the work during the Nazi era. The court ruled that Schoeps couldn’t sue for restitution because he is not appointed to represent his great-uncle’s estate. Christie’s and the musical theater giant’s estate withdrew the 1903 painting, Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto, from auction a year ago following Schoeps’s allegation. The work carried an estimate of $40–60 million.