Court Battle over Restituted Pissarro
November 5 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The fate of a restituted painting by Camille Pissarro is back in court after the owner has changed their mind on a previous agreement reached with an American museum.
In 2012 the heir of the collector Lèone Mayer discovered the above painting of 'Shepherdess bringing in Sheep' by Camille Pissarro had in fact been looted from her family by the Nazis. The picture had since entered into the collection of Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. Later in 2016 an agreement was reached so that the picture would be displayed at a museum in France for five years, then would rotate every three years between the university and one or more French institutions of Ms. Meyer's choosing.
Two years later, and ever since, Ms. Meyer has been attempting to gift the work to the Musée D'Orsay in full. This would, the American University claims, break their previous agreement. Ms. Meyer is now bringing her case to court in France in January to break the 2016 settlement. It will be fascinating to see how this complicated case is resolved.
