Free Republic

A treasure trove of artworks worth almost £1billion seized by the Nazis and reportedly destroyed in RAF bombing raids during WW2 has been found behind rotting food in shabby apartment in Munich. Experts have hailed the discovery of the 1,500 pictures, thought to have been lost or bombed, as a sensational find. The story of the lost masterpieces of such painters as Pablo Picasso, Renoir, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall is revealed in this week's edition of Germany's Focus magazine which broke the story of the incredible find by customs officials. Art historians examining the collection claim up to 300...

A federal appeals court in Boston has ruled that the Museum of Fine Arts owns a valuable 1913 painting by Oskar Kokoschka, saying that the statute of limitations had run out on an Austrian woman's claim that the painting had been sold by one of her ancestors under Nazi duress and belonged to her. But the First US Circuit Court of Appeals noted that it wasn't ruling on the legality of the MFA's acquisition of the painting in 1973. And it added that, in the future, museums should take a close look at the background of paintings from that time....