Courtesy Norton Simon Art Foundation

Lucas Cranach the Elder, "Eve" (c. 1530)

Courtesy Norton Simon Art Foundation

Lucas Cranach the Elder, "Adam" (c. 1530)

Lucas Cranach the Elder Konrad Bernheimer Berlinde De Bruyckere LACMA Director Speaks Out on Deaccessioning LACMA to Offer Two Works at Sotheby’s Unicef to Sell Works Bequeathed by German Doctor Artist Dossier: Lucas Cranach the Elder Old Master Paintings

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Connecticut resident Marei Von Saher claims she is the rightful owner of two wood-panel paintings of Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder, which were created around 1530 and now hang in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, where they were valued at $24 million in 2006. Von Saher is the daughter-in-law of Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who deserted the works when he fled Holland in 1940 and whose firm then sold the paintings to the Nazis under duress. Norton Simon, founder of the eponymous museum, purchased the pair in 1971 from a Russian owner.

In 2007 Von Saher brought a suit against the museum, which was struck down by a judge who ruled that a 2002 California law giving owners and heirs of artworks time beyond the regular statute of limitations to sue for their return was unconstitutional, because shaping policies on war and foreign affairs is a federal, not state, prerogative. She appealed the decision, but a San Francisco federal appeals court today reinforced it in a 2-1 ruling. The court did, however, say that Von Saher could proceed with her case if she can convince the judge that her case qualifies under the regular statute of limitations. The museum has vowed to fight “vigorously” for the work.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times.