The heirs to the Bic pen fortune are fighting to regain possession of a 15th-century Fra Angelico masterpiece they claim was stolen two decades ago by the family chauffeur, according to court filings obtained by The Independent.
The 500-year-old painting was then “funneled into the art market through a series of illegal and reckless transactions,” and eventually auctioned off for $5.4 million to a South American billionaire who has since refused to return it, say Gonzalve, Charles and Guillaume Bich, whose aristocrat grandfather, Baron Marcel Bich, founded the ballpoint pen, razor and disposable lighter empire that bears an abbreviated version of the family name.
