David Nahmad Given 30 Days to Return Nazi-Looted Modigliani
9June 19, 2026
A New York Supreme Court judge on June 16 gave billionaire dealerDavid Nahmadthirty days to returnAmedeo Modigliani’s 1918 paintingSeated Man with a Caneto the family of Jewish antiques dealer Oscar Stettiner, who left it in his Paris shop as he fled the Nazis during World War II. The ruling is the latest twist in a case that has dragged on for eleven years. It follows from anApril court decisionin which it was finally determined that the painting—purchased by Nahmad’s family in 1996 for $3.2 million and today valued at more than $25 million—rightfully belonged to Stettiner’s estate.
International Art Center, a holding company controlled by Nahmad, had purchased the work at auction fromChristie’sand placed it in storage in Switzerland. Philippe Maestracci, a farmer living in France and a grandson of Stettiner, in 2011 began legal action to try to recover it. Aided by the company Mondex, which specializes in recovering looted art, he filed a lawsuit in New York court in 2015, seeking to get the painting back.
The Nahmad family argued that the painting in question was not the same one owned by Stettiner. In May, after the court ruled in the Stettiner estate’s favor, the Nahmads filed a motion for the case to be reconsidered, continuing to argue that the work had been misidentified and this time offering to provide fresh eyewitness testimony in the case. According to the Nahmads, a godson of Jean Van der Klip, who owned the Modigliani before its sale to Christie’s, recalled seeing Van der Klip display “the Modigliani (singular)” on occasion, and that the subject of that canvas was standing, not seated, and had no cane. The Nahmads additionally pointed to research by Marc Restellini, an expert on Modigliani, as supporting their case.
Maestracci’s attorneys filed a memorandum in opposition to the motion to review. In the wake of the June 16 order demanding he hand over the canvas, Nahmad told the Art Newspaper he planned to appeal, on the grounds that the April ruling was made without consideration of the eyewitness testimony he hopes to offer. Phillip C. Landrigran, a lawyer for Maestracci, told the publication that Nahmad’s efforts could extend the case by another five years. “All an appeal may do,” he said, “is further delay restitution to the Holocaust victim’s heir.”