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The 1911 painting, Portrait of Ria Munk III, is one of three the artist painted of the young woman, who committed suicide that year at the age of 24 after a failed love affair, at the request of her mother, Aranka Munk.

Vienna lawyer Alfred Noll applied for the return of the painting in 2007, which Aranka Munk's heirs argue was seized from her villa in Austria's Bad Aussee after she was deported to a concentration camp, where she died in 1941.

Linz authorities had previously argued that there was no evidence to prove the work had been taken from the villa, but new findings by independent expert Sophie Lillie suggest that it was.

Still, “there is no complete certainty” that the painting is the same one, Erich Wolny, a Linz city official, told Bloomberg. “But there are strong indications that it was looted, and that is enough to warrant restitution.”

The industrialist family owned dozens of paintings by Klimt, most of which were destroyed by the Nazis toward the end of the war.

“It is deeply gratifying to see the restoration of this family portrait,” the heirs, who are scattered around the world and have asked to remain unnamed, said in a joint statement released by Noll. “We thank the city of Linz for its commitment to justice.”

The recommendation is to be considered by Linz's museum leadership on April 23 and is expected to be approved by Linz's city council at a meeting on June 4.