Vienna Jewish Museum restitutes Nazi-looted painting

Marcy Oster

(JTA) — A Jewish museum in Vienna restituted 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 handed over Friday to Anne Starkey, Epstein’s grandniece, the granddaughter of the woman in the painting.

Starkey traveled from Britain to the Jewish museum to recover the painting, 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.