Nazi Loot Update

In a blaze of publicity, a spokesman for Nazi art theft beneficiary Cornelius Gurlitt announced that Henri Matisse's Seated Woman will be returned to the heirs of Paris art collector Paul Rosenberg, from whom it was stolen. At one time the painting was in the collection of Hermann Goering, the founder of the Gestapo secret police. The spokesman said that Cornelius Gurlitt had told his lawyer "Should there be the well-founded suspicion that works are looted art then please give them back to their Jewish owners." Mr Nice Guy! His PR team are working hard to make him seem less like a despicable hoarder of Nazi plunder. Meanwhile, German lawmakers are debating whether to repeal a 30-year statute of limitations that provides cover for people retaining looted works. It is estimated that Gurlitt's hoard contains 458 works stolen or extorted from Jewish owners during the Holocaust and 380 pieces of "degenerate" art removed from public collections (CLICK).