A California federal appeals court has ruled that two paintings from the Goudstikker collection are the rightful property of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and do not have to be returned to the heir of the Dutch-Jewish art collector.

Art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who died from a fall onboard ship on his way to England at the beginning of the WWII, left his collection in the hands of his staff, who sold the stock of at least 1,113 paintings for just 2.5 million guilders to German art dealer Alois Miedl and field marshall Hermann Goering.

After the war, the paintings ended up at museums around the world. In 2006, the Dutch authorities agreed to return 202 pieces to the family after years of legal wrangling.

The disputed paintings – Adam and Eve by the German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder – were sold to George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff, a onetime U.S. Navy commander and descendant of Russian aristocracy by the Dutch state in 1966.

He went on to sell them to the museum in 1971. Eleven years ago, Goudstikker’s daughter in law, Marei von Saher, started legal proceedings to recover the 16^th century masterpieces.

Valid sale

According to the LA Times the decision of the judge was based on an ‘act of state’ which validates the ownership of the Dutch state at the time of the sale.

‘Without question, the Nazi plunder of artwork was a moral atrocity that compels an appropriate governmental response,’ the paper quotes judge Margaret McKeown.

‘But the record … reveals an official conveyance from the Dutch government to Stroganoff thrice ‘settled’ by Dutch authorities. For all the reasons the doctrine exists, we decline the invitation to invalidate the official actions of the Netherlands.’

A lawyer for Von Saher said he would be ‘reviewing’ the decision with his client.