Several heirs to Jewish banker Salomon Flavian have taken Sotheby’s to court in Paris over the auctioneer’s sale of a painting by Camille Pissarro. The painting, Darse de pêche et bassin Duquesne, Dieppe, après-midi ensoleillée, was reportedly looted by the Nazis in 1941, and the heirs claim they were excluded from a deal struck with two family members.

Sotheby’s London sold the painting for £1.2 million in 2024. The house’s lawyers argue that the heirs’ consent was obtained through Mondex Corporation, a specialist in recovering looted assets. However, the seven plaintiffs maintain that only two relatives, Gilles and Nicholas Flavian, signed the agreement and that the rest were not consulted.

The painting’s history includes a Paris dealer, Paul Rosenberg, and a London dealer, Edward Le Bas. It has been exhibited at leading museums, including the Tate in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In a sale catalogue, Sotheby’s had noted that the canvas was registered in a repertory of looted art released by the French government in 1947. However, Mondex’s legal team argues that the painting was never actually looted, stating that a provenance researcher found no evidence of spoliation.

A verdict is expected on November 5, with Sotheby’s lawyer contending that the Paris court lacks jurisdiction over the London-based transaction.