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Many owners of 1530 painting, including Goering, but Pasadena museum says it's ours now

Saying that its right to a nearly 500-year-old depiction of Adam and Eve is ironclad, the Norton Simon Art Foundation on Tuesday challenged an ownership rival to a federal court showdown over the work, which has hung in the Norton Simon Museum of Art in Pasadena since 1976.

The suit is a preemptive strike against Marei von Saher of Connecticut and her family; the museum says she first came forward in 2001 to claim the diptych and has threatened to sue in recent press interviews.

"We believe firmly we have good title," said Walter Timoshuk, the museum's president.

The foundation wants a ruling that it is the work's rightful owner and an injunction prohibiting Von Saher from suing for ownership.

The foundation's suit tells the following story...

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  • Read entire article at Los Angeles Times