A Nahmad holding company bought the work at auction in 1996 and has owned it ever since. Mr. Nahmad, the scion of a family of international art dealers, remains adamant that he will not settle. “People say, ‘Oh, David stole it; he should give it back immediately,’” Mr. Nahmad said in a rare interview at a hotel here. The document had been legally sealed until 2022, but Mr. Nahmad successfully applied for an exemption to examine it. The price was 16,000 francs, though, far too low, Mr. Nahmad says, for a large work in oil by Modigliani, even then.

Source: New York Times June 12, 2016 18:02 UTC