Court: art should go back to Jewish family
The ruling, which is not binding, indirectly supported the family's claims that the pictures were stolen by the Nazis. Lawyers for both the family and the government have said they would abide by the court's recommendation to end a seven-year legal struggle over who owns the paintings, estimated to be worth at least $150 million.
A decision to return the paintings would represent one of the costliest settlements since Austria's government started more than a decade ago returning valuable art objects looted by the Nazis.
"The conditions of the federal law over the return ... are fulfilled," said the court ruling, reported by the Austria Press Agency. A formal announcement of the court decision, which APA said was reached Sunday, was expected Tuesday.
Austrian government officials were not immediately available for comment.
E. Randol Schoenberg, the lawyer for 90-year-old Maria Altmann, the California woman claiming the paintings, said the decision fulfilled all her hopes and expectations.
"It will make Mrs. Altmann very happy," he told the Austria Press Agency.
The paintings include a gold leaf-clad portrait of Altmann's aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, one of the most reproduced pictures of all time. The portrait was commissioned by Bloch-Bauer's family.
Lawyers for the Austrian government and Altmann have fought since 1998 over rights to the portrait and four other pictures - a lesser-known Bloch-Bauer portrait as well as "Apfelbaum" ("Apple Tree"), "Buchenwald/Birkenwald ("Beech Forest/Birch Forest) and "Haeuser in Unterach am Attersee" (Houses in Unterach on Attersee Lake").
Altmann's now-deceased relatives owned all five paintings before the Nazis came to power.
Bloch-Bauer died in 1925 and all of the five disputed pictures remained in her family. Her husband fled to Switzerland after the Nazis took over Austria in 1938. The pictures were then taken by the Nazis and the Austrian Gallery was made the formal owner.
Attorneys for Austria have argued Altmann's aunt clearly intended to give the works to the Austrian Gallery, where they are now displayed. In any case, they say, the conflict should be settled in an Austrian court.
The two sides began mediation in March, following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that Altmann could sue the Austrian government.
The case stems from a 1998 law passed in Austria. The law required federal museums to review search their holdings for any works seized by the Nazis after they took over Austria, and to determine whether the works were obtained by the museums without remuneration.
Altmann's lawyer Schoenberg contended the five works of art were looted by the Nazis, and as such, U.S. law mandates their return to the original owners.