Cases Pending

Each object tells a story. Some are still missing, some are restituted or resolved, and some have cases still pending. The circumstances of looting and the efforts for recovery are just as fascinating as the famous works of art themselves.

Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto, 1903

The Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto, also known as The Absinthe Drinker, is a famous example of Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period. It depicts the intense features and gaze of the artist’s close friend de Soto, who is seated at a café.

Picasso met Angel de Soto in an artists’ gathering in Barcelona in 1899. Back then de Soto was a very colourful and Bohemian character, always elegant and surrounded by women. For a short while Picasso and de Soto shared a studio, and they remained close friends until 1938 – the tragic year when de Soto was killed in the Spanish Civil War. The portrait thus catches Picasso’s personalized approach towards de Soto through the depiction of his exaggerated features and elegant hands.

Soon after being painted, the portrait was acquired by Mr. Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy – a prominent Jewish banker from Berlin, who owned one of the greatest European private art collections at the time. As Hitler came to power in 1933, Mr. von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, like many other Jewish bankers, was targeted by the Nazis. Mr. von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was forced to leave his house in Berlin and was pressured by the Nazis to sell his art works at very low prices.

In November 1934, he placed the Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto, along with four other works by Picasso, for sale with Berlin art dealer Justin K. Thannhauser. After Mr. von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s death in 1935, Thannhauser sold the work to New York gallery M. Knoedler & Co. in 1936. Ten years later the portrait was acquired by the collectors Donald and Jean Stralem.

The renowned portrait of de Soto remained in New York until the Stralems passed away. Sotheby’s sold the Stralem collection on behalf of their estate in 1995. The well-known British composer and art collector Andrew Lloyd Webber bought the work in the sale and made the Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto a part of the charitable Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation.

In November 2006, the Foundation put the work up for sale at Christie’s, with the intention of donating the proceeds to charity. However, three days before the sale, Mr. Julius H. Schoeps, an academic and a former director of the Vienna Jewish Museum, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Manhattan for restitution of the portrait, as he is the heir to his great-uncle Mr. Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Nevertheless, one day before the sale, the Judge dismissed Mr. Schoeps’ claim and ruled that the work could be sold, noting that the painting had already been in the art market for over 50 years.

There was speculation in the art market about whether Christie’s would withdraw the painting from the sale. Eventually, in such unclear and rushed circumstances, Christie’s decided to withdraw the Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto only on the day of the sale.

The charity set up by Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to the high court to prove that they are the rightful owners of the painting, which is estimated to be worth $40-$60 million.