Christie's under fire over Nazi-looting painting

From the BBC:

The Guardian newspaper said Christie's failed to alert the authorities or the heirs to the painting by Jacob Duck after discovering it had been looted. . .

The painting. . . was auctioned in Germany in 1937 after its Jewish owners fled.
It was offered for sale by a private German collector in July 2000.

But Christie's said its own research discovered that the painting had a controversial past and its sale was averted. A Christie's spokeswoman told BBC News Online they were only obliged to tell the vendor and could not tell the heirs of the original owners or any outside authorities.

"We do not have the legal right to breach our duty of confidentiality by contacting third parties without the vendor's permission, nor did we have the right to withhold the painting from the vendor," she said.

Posted by David on October 25, 2003 11:22 AM