David Nahmad is continuing his legal battle to prove that his Modigliani painting, *Seated Man with a Cane* (1918), was not looted by the Nazis from the Jewish dealer Oscar Stettiner. Despite a recent New York ruling against him, Nahmad’s lawyers have filed a motion to review the case based on new eyewitness testimony. Two witnesses claim the painting they saw in the Van der Klip family—which bought the Nazi-looted work in 1944—is completely different from Nahmad’s painting, lacking a seated man or a cane. Nahmad’s legal team also cites a 1946 French bailiff report and a recent catalogue raisonné by Marc Restellini to argue that Mondex, the restitution firm working for Stettiner’s heirs, misidentified the work.
This case matters because it highlights the enduring complexity and high stakes of Nazi-era art restitution, where provenance disputes can span decades and involve tens of millions of dollars. If Nahmad succeeds, it could set a precedent for challenging restitution claims based on documentary and eyewitness evidence, potentially affecting other high-profile cases. The outcome also underscores the difficulty of conclusively proving the wartime history of artworks, even with extensive legal and scholarly resources.