“Seated Man with a Cane” belonged to a Jewish art dealer, Oscar Stettiner, who was forced to flee Paris during the Occupation. Held by the art dealer David Nahmad, it must be returned to the heir, who lives in the Dordogne village where his ancestor had taken refuge during the war.
Excerpted from article by Alexandre Duyck
After fifteen years of legal battle, “Seated Man with a Cane”, by Amedeo Modigliani, will likely return to France. More precisely, to Dordogne, to the home of an 80-year-old farmer, Philippe Maestracci. This was decided by the Supreme Court of the State of New York in a 35-page ruling issued on April 3, 2026.… it has been at the center of a long legal process at the end of which the American courts confirmed that the painting had been confiscated by the Nazis in 1944. And that its current owner, billionaire David Nahmad, a wealthy collector born in Beirut in 1947 and now living in Monaco, must return it…
Indeed, the New York Supreme Court rejected the arguments of David Nahmad’s lawyers. After first claiming he did not possess the painting, Nahmad later argued that he had acquired it in good faith… Judge Joel M. Cohen, however, ruled that… the painting had been seized in the context of Nazi persecution, something the current owner, in the judge’s view, could not have ignored.
American lawyer Phillip Landrigan and Canadian James Palmer, head of the company Mondex, which specializes in recovering stolen artworks for a fee. Both are now celebrating the victory. “The court’s decision highlights the efforts made to conceal this Nazi theft,” the lawyer accuses. “The acquisition at a low price, with full knowledge of the painting’s provenance during the war, and the excessive use of legal proceedings in the hope of forcing the heir to give up the painting, demonstrate a total disregard for the persecution suffered by the painting’s rightful owner during the Holocaust.”
From Toronto, Mondex’s James Palmer… “This is an exceptional moment and a wonderful decision,” he writes to us, “especially since most restitution claims for artworks looted during the Holocaust fail before American courts. This success is encouraging, and we hope it will help all those concerned, including other families pursuing similar claims against other possessors.”