The work in question, Marketplace at Pirna (ca. 1764) by Italian painter Bernardo Bellotto , was once owned by the German department store magnate Max J. Emden, who lost much of his wealth amid Nazi persecution. In attempting to recover the canvas , Emden’s heirs claimed it was sold under duress in 1938 to an art dealer who regularly collaborated with Nazis. In an alleged mix-up, after World War II, the Bellotto painting was returned to the wrong owner by the Dutch government. In the ’50s, it was sold to Samuel H. Kress, who was a leading collector of European...