Legal battles about looted art

Purchasing artworks is a risky business, especially if the provenance cannot be traced till a moment prior to the Second World War. Still possessors of artworks may be confronted with claims for the return of artworks stolen a long time ago. Often costly and time-consuming archival research is needed to prove that such a claim is either founded or unfounded. It makes legal proceedings in these cases a very costly business.

Image: Coastal landscape displaying the robbery of Europe by Claude Lorrain (by the Nazi's robbed work from Jewish collector Goudstikker).