Long-Lost Seurat Sketch Shows Up in Paris

PARIS—Police have seized a sketch by Georges Seurat from Paris art dealer Eric Turquin, the Independent reports. Etude de L'Ile de la Grande Jatte, a preliminary study for one of the artist's paintings, dates back to the late 1800s and is rendered on the lid of a cigar box. It was thought to have been stolen by the Nazis during World War II, and French investigators searching for looted Jewish-owned art are trying to find out why the work suddenly appeared in the hands of the French dealer. Etude de L'Ile de la Grande Jatte once belonged to the Jewish painter Paul Signac. His widow Berthe Signac gave it to French art dealer Andre Metthey for safekeeping in 1940 after Germany invaded France. The Signac family tried to reclaim the sketch in 1945, but Metthey said it had been stolen by the Nazis. The work was added to a French list of "despoiled" artworks, but it turned up again two years ago after Turquin asked the French Ministry of Culture for a certificate allowing him to sell the work abroad for a client, Elias Chartouni. The painting was seized a few days ago at Turquin's offices in Paris; magistrate Fabienne Pous will investigate the "theft by persons unknown."