April 3, 2026
A judge ruled against a holding company controlled by David Nahmad, the billionaire art dealer, which had bought the work at auction in 1996.
For more than a decade, the estate of a Jewish antiques dealer has tried in court to claim a valuable painting by Amedeo Modigliani, an oil portrait of a dapper chocolate merchant in a hat and tie, seated and holding a cane.
The painting…was confiscated from the dealer’s Paris shop during the Nazi occupation of France and sold off more than eight decades ago.
But the claim … has long been disputed by the Nahmad family, a prominent dynasty of art dealers that wields enormous power in the international art market…
On Friday, a judge in New York Supreme Court, Joel M. Cohen, ruled that it is the same painting and that Mr. Stettiner’s estate “is entitled to possession of the painting,” known as “Seated Man With a Cane” (1918)…
In ruling against the art dealer and billionaire David Nahmad and the Nahmad holding company, Judge Cohen said the defendants had “failed to raise any material issues of fact, and offer no evidence that identifies anyone other than Mr. Stettiner as the owner of the painting or that he voluntarily relinquished it.”
The decision is a victory in a long campaign by Mr. Stettiner’s grandson, Philippe Maestracci, and a company, Mondex, that specializes in recovering looted art. They began working to reclaim the painting, once estimated to be worth as much as $25 million, years before filing the lawsuit.
“Our client, Mr. Maestracci, is overwhelmed with joy and the satisfaction that after so many years the quest of his grandfather has finally been fulfilled,” said James Palmer, Mondex’s founder.
“We now look forward to Mr. Nahmad to abide by his promise to return the painting upon receiving the order of the court, which today he has now received,” Mr. Palmer said.