The sale of old master paintings from the Goudstikker collection raised over $9.7m for its owners at a sale at Christies in New York yesterday. The collection was sold for a bargain price to the Nazi occupiers during World War II and its recovery took years of legal wrangling.

Last year, the collection was finally returned to the heirs of Jacques Goudstikker, a prominent Dutch art collector, who died while trying to reach exile ahead of the Nazi invasion.
Goudstikker left his collection in the hands of his staff, who sold the stock of at least 1,113 paintings for just 2.5 million guilders to German art dealer Alois Miedl and field marshall Hermann Goering.
After the war, the paintings ended up at museums around the world. Last year, the Dutch authorities agreed to return 202 pieces to the family.
Sales of art from the collection will also take place in Amsterdam and London.