I'm glad the rightful owner's family will finally be compensated for that which was their stolen treasure, but this is one unattractive "woman".. so ill proportioned .... such very large hands .. but what do I know? It's worth $12 MIL!! And justice has finally been done. Yikes! (learn to paint, learn to paint)
Technically, the family was paid restitution. The legal question, and the new owner could've probably continued to defend herself in court, is whether or not the acceptance of the restitution payment in 1969 constituted giving up ownership of the piece.
Think of it in terms of having someone break into your house and steal a bunch of stuff. You receive an insurance check for the stolen items. The items are located and recovered 60 years later in excellent conditions, with appreciated value. The items have since legally changed ownership several times before they were discovered to be stolen. And imagine that it is your grandson trying to claim ownership of the items, not yourself.
Who, then, is the owner?
In my opinion, the family already accepted restitution for the piece. I think that means that they relinquished ownership at that point. I think that the only way that they could argue that the restitution was void, is if the German government knew where the painting was, and did not inform them, prior to offering them the restitution payment.
This means, that I think the new owner is doing a good turn to be paying the family additional restitution for the appreciated value of the piece, but that I think that the settlement is unnecessary.
Wonder what I could get for my Bob Ross.
Learn to take photos. Westons can for for a million these days.
Those are man hands. Ugh!