El Greco, “Portrait of a Gentleman”, 1570, oil on canvas (courtesy Commission for Looted Art in Europe). 

BERLIN — A painting by El Greco that was seized by the Gestapo in Vienna in 1938 has been returned to the owner's heirs.

"Portrait of a Gentleman" was known to have been in New York in the 1950s. Attempts by the owner, Julius Priester, who had fled Vienna, to recover the artwork after the war were unsuccessful. He died in 1954.

Several decades later his heirs put in a claim for the work. It had changed hands several times and was at another New York dealership. The dealer cooperated readily and the El Greco returned to Preister's family, now in Britain.