1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 11
Nils Büttner concluded in a March report that the disputed landscape sought by Abraham Adelsberger’s heirs is not an original Rubens but a workshop copy, weakening the family’s long-running restitution case.
The key evidence was one missing animal: the Munich museum’s original version shows 11 cows, including one urinating, while the contested painting has 10 because that cow was painted over.
Büttner said the alteration may have been made to improve marketability, reflecting social norms that treated such imagery as unsuitable for rooms seen by women or children.
The ruling adds to a recent challenge from the private collector whose family has held the work since 1937, complicating the heirs’ effort to recover art lost after fleeing Nazi persecution.
How can a single painted-over cow derail a decades-long quest for justice over a Nazi-looted painting?
As AI redefines authenticity, can Germany's new court finally deliver justice for Nazi-looted art after decades of failure?