Pissarro

In a brief order, the justices overturned the 9th Circuit Court for the second time and said the fate of the Claude Pissarro painting should be decided under the terms of a new California law that protects the rightful heirs of art that was lost during the Holocaust.

That ruling found that the painting — “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain” by Camille Pissarro — was lawfully owned by a Spanish museum and need not be returned to the American descendants of Lilly Cassirer Neubauer, who surrendered the masterpiece to the Nazis for a visa to flee Germany in 1939.

Assembly Bill 2867 makes clear that California law requires that Nazi looted artworks such as the Pissarro — as well as other valuables stolen during past or future acts of genocide or political persecution — be returned to their rightful owners.

Thaddeus Stauber, an attorney for the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, the Madrid museum that holds the Pissarro, said late Monday that he could not immediately comment.

The long court battle has substantially raised the profile — and likely the value — of the Pissarro painting itself and could set precedent useful for other families seeking the return of looted art.