The Vienna Jewish Museum has returned a Nazi-looted painting to the artist’s grandnieces.
The 1922 painting “The coffee hour. Fanny, the sister of the artist” by Jewish artist Jehudo Epstein, was given to Anne Starkey, one of Epstein’s grandnieces and the granddaughter of the woman in the painting.
Starkey traveled from Britain to the museum to recover the painting, which was handed over to her on Sept. 19, according to reports.
The museum, which obtained the artwork in 2010, discovered that the heirs were seeking to recover the painting.
Epstein left Austria for South Africa in 1934. The painting later was confiscated by the Nazis after they annexed Austria. Epstein died in South Africa in 1945. — jta