More on the Klimts’ Legal Status

Art-law blogger Donn Zaretsky gives his analysis (scroll down to his second item under Oct. 2) of the former legal quarrel between Austria and the Bloch-Bauer heirs over whether Austria was entitled to claim the Klimts under the provisions of Adele Bloch-Bauer‘s will:
From my reading of the [U.S.] Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in the case, it’s probably more accurate to say the Austrian position was that Adele had already given it the work prior to its seizure by the Nazis. The Bloch-Bauer heirs conceded that Adele’s will (she died in 1925) “asked” her husband “after his death” to bequeath the paintings to Austria. Their [the heirs’] complaint in the U.S. action added that the attorney for her estate then advised the Austrian Gallery that the husband “intended to comply” with the request, but that he wasn’t legally obligated to do so because he, not his wife, owned [the Klimts].
CultureGrrl‘s previous analysis of the competing claims of Austria and the heirs is here.