Man loses claim on Picasso work

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, owner of a Pablo Picasso painting, can’t be sued by a German collector who claimed that the Nazis forced his relative to sell the work, a New York court said.

The theater impresario’s foundation, and auction house Christie’s International, withdrew Picasso’s portrait from sale a year ago after Julius Schoeps said it was forcibly sold by his great-uncle, Berlin banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. The foundation argued in court that Schoeps couldn’t sue for restitution because he wasn’t appointed to represent his relative’s estate, and the judge agreed this week.

Christie’s, which had valued the 1903 Picasso painting, “Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto,” at $40 million to $60 million, said it was too soon to say whether the work would go back on auction, since there may be a legal appeal.