Dutch art collector,
Emanuel Lewenstein bought the painting immediately after it was finished in 1907. After his death, his widow, Hedwig, loaned it to
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam for safekeeping. On 3 March 2017, three of his heirs filed suit in
New York City against
Bayerische Landesbank who believe they now own it, in respect of the painting, now valued at $80 million. The lawsuit claimed that the painting was effectively taken and sold without permission, "The painting was taken from its legitimate owners in 1940 in violation of international law during the period of the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands in furtherance of the Nazi campaign of Jewish genocide". According to the commission
Hedwig Lewenstein, the sole owner after her husband's death, loaned the painting to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Under murky circumstance the artwork was "collected" from the museum in 1940 by an art dealer named Abraham Mozes Querido and then auctioned at Frederik Muller & Co, where it was purchased by
Salomon B. Slijper. Slijper concealed the painting during the war, and, after his death, his widow sold it, and it ended up in the possession of the
Bayerische Landesbank. ==See also==