An 11-year-long legal dispute over a prized Amedeo Modigliani painting looted during World War II has concluded in a loss for billionaire art dealer David Nahmad and his family, marking an unlikely restitution victory for the heirs of its original Jewish owner. A New York judge ruled this week that Seated Man With a Cane (1918) rightfully belongs to the estate of Oscar Stettiner, a Jewish art dealer who left the portrait behind under duress while fleeing Paris ahead of the Nazi occupation. The court found that the painting was illicitly seized and illegitimately transferred, rejecting the Nahmads’ longstanding argument that its provenance, or ownership history, was unclear. Related Articles “Oscar Stettiner owned or at a minimum had a superior right of possession of the painting prior to its unlawful seizure,” Judge Joel M. Cohen wrote, as first quoted by the New York Times, “and he never voluntarily relinquished it.” The judge added that David Nahmad and the Nahmad holding company “failed to raise any material issues of fact, and offered no evidence identifying anyone …