Picasso to be sold at Christie's New York

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NEW YORK, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A federal judge in New York Tuesday paved the way for the sale of a disputed Picasso that is expected to raise $60 million for charity.

London's Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation bought the "Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto" for more than $34 million in May 1995.

During the past 11 years, the painting has been shown in London, Philadelphia, Toronto, Dallas and New York -- but four days before it was to go under the hammer at Christie's in New York a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court claiming the Nazis forced a Jewish banker in Berlin to give up the painting in 1934.

Julius H. Schoeps sought possession of the painting, which he said belonged to his relative, Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who died a year after he was forced to sell the piece for an extremely low price.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff blocked the sale Monday, then lifted his order Tuesday, the BBC reported.

The foundation issued a statement on its Web site calling Schoeps' claim "utterly spurious without legal or factual substance."

Money raised by the sale will help fund the foundation's efforts "to advance the education of the public in the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the arts, especially painting, music and theater."

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