The heirs to the Bic pen fortune, Gonzalve, Charles, and Guillaume Bich, have filed a lawsuit alleging a 15th-century masterpiece by Fra Angelico was stolen from their family. They claim the painting, 'Saint Sixtus,' was taken by their father's chauffeur in 2006 and sold to art dealer Richard Feigen, who later sold it to Chilean collector Alvaro Saieh in 2018. The heirs are now suing Saieh to reclaim the artwork and seeking the return of sale proceeds from Feigen's estate.
This case highlights the complex issues of provenance, title, and good faith purchase in the high-value Old Masters market. It pits heirs against a collector who bought the work at a major auction house, testing legal definitions of ownership and the responsibilities of intermediaries when handling potentially stolen cultural property. The outcome could influence how auction houses and collectors vet works with gaps in their ownership history.