The Zeckendorf family of New York developers has filed suit against the heirs of the Weis collectors, claiming that a 1958 painting by Pierre Soulages, sold at Christie's last autumn for almost five million dollars, was stolen from their family…

The Zeckendorf family of New York developers has filed suit against the heirs of the Weis collectors, claiming that a 1958 painting by Pierre Soulages, sold at Christie's last autumn for almost five million dollars, was stolen from their family between 1977 and 1980. The canvas came from the estate of Marion Zeckendorf, who died in 1968, and, according to the plaintiffs, could not have passed lawfully to the gallery that sold it in 1984, since both Marion and her husband were by then dead. The suit also points to inconsistencies in the gallery invoice from Niveau supplied by the defendants: it is alleged to have been printed on stationery of a colour other than the one the gallery used in 1984