DETROIT — Lawyers for the Detroit Institute of Arts on Monday scoffed at allegations that a Vincent van Gogh painting was missing for six years until being found hanging on the wall of the museum, using an exclamation point in a federal court of appeals filing to counter the purported owner's claim.
DIA lawyers Monday disparaged claims that the painting was lost and stolen, arguing the legal fight over the fate of the 1888 oil painting "Liseuse De Romans," also known as "The Novel Reader" or "The Reading Lady," should be dismissed and any future legal battles should happen in Brazil.
That is the home country of the unidentified lender who let the DIA include "The Novel Reader" in the museum's "Van Gogh in America" exhibition, which ended Jan. 22. Brazil also is the home of the purported owner, Brazilian collector Gustavo Soter, whose art brokerage company, Brokerarte Capital Partners LLC, initiated a legal tug-of-war in early January in federal court in Detroit.
