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A New York judge on Tuesday allowed the sale of a portrait by Pablo Picasso to go ahead, dismissing the claims of a German man who said one of his ancestors was forced to sell it by the Nazis.
Judge Jed Rakoff had earlier temporarily blocked the sale, scheduled for Wednesday at Christie's auction house, after Julius Schoeps brought a complaint saying he was the rightful owner of the work.
But Rakoff dismissed the complaint Tuesday, allowing British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's foundation to go ahead with the sale of the blue period work "Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto."
The work, bought by the popular musical composer's foundation for 29 million dollars just over a decade ago, carries a pre-sale estimate of between 40 and 60 million dollars.
Schoeps' complaint alleged that one of his ancestors, Berlin banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, was forced to sell the work along with several other masterpieces "into a depressed market" under Nazi oppression in 1934.
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AFP 071754 GMT 11 06
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