The Nazis forced a Jewish woman to hand over a priceless painting. 85 years later, judges said her family can't have it back.

A US court said that Spain can keep a priceless painting looted by the Nazis from its Jewish owner. A judge said it went against her "moral compass."

• A US court said that Spain can keep a priceless painting looted by the Nazis from its Jewish owner.
• The decadeslong court battle has been watched closely as a landmark case in art restitution.
• One of the judges said she agreed with the decision but it still went against her "moral compass."

A priceless painting looted by the Nazis that ended up in a Spanish museum does not have to be returned to the family of its original Jewish owner, a trio of judges has determined.

Tuesday's court decision, in what is arguably the highest-profile existing case of WWII art restitution, shocked the family and even prompted one of the judges to say it went against her own "moral compass."

In 1939, in an attempt to flee Germany, Jewish art collector Lilly Neubauer was forced by the Nazis to sell the painting "Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain," by impressionist Camille Pissarro.

She was also never allowed access to the bank account the fee was paid into, according to court documents seen by Business Insider.

The painting itself, of a muted, rainy street scene in Paris, was painted in 1897 and shows the view from Pissarro's hotel window, according to Madrid's Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, which holds the painting today.

Following the war, a US court of restitution appeals ruled that Neubauer remained the owner of the painting, which she believed was lost or destroyed. The German government paid Neubauer the painting's then-value — the equivalent of about $250,000 in today's money — in restitution.

Today, the painting is estimated to be worth around $30 million, according to The Guardian.

After changing hands multiple times, the painting ended up being bought by a Spanish noble, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, whose art collection is now the property of a state-backed Spanish nonprofit named after him.

In 2000, Neubauer's descendant, California resident Claude Cassirer, found out the painting was on display in Madrid's Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, and requested it back — but Spain refused.

Litigation around the painting has taken place ever since.

The decadeslong case gained further prominence in April 2022, when the US Supreme Court reopened it, sending it back to California's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, as trade outlet The Art Newspaper reported at the time.

Judges there said the determination would rest on whose law applied in this case — Spain's or California's. The Spanish-backed nonprofit didn't know the painting was looted when it bought the collection, the judges said, giving it a stronger claim within Spanish law.

"Under California law the plaintiffs would recover the art, while under Spanish law they would not," they wrote.

Ultimately, the decision rested, they said, on whose interests would be more damaged by the decision going against them.

"The panel concluded that, under the facts of this case, Spain's governmental interests would be more impaired by the application of California law than would California's governmental interests be impaired by the application of Spanish law," they wrote. "Thus, Spanish law must apply."

The decision has "surprised and disappointed" the family, Sam Dubbin, their attorney, told the Los Angeles Times.

The decision "fails to explain how Spain has any interest in applying its laws to launder ownership of the spoils of war," they said, in a statement seen by the paper.

The statement continued: "The Cassirers believe that, especially in light of the explosion of antisemitism in this country and around the world today, they must challenge Spain's continuing insistence on harboring Nazi looted art."

The museum welcomed the decision. It argued that not only the Spanish state-backed nonprofit, but also Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, was unaware that the painting was stolen when he bought it.

The family disputes this, saying he should have done more due diligence, according to the Times.

One of the judges, Consuelo Callahan, said that while she agreed with the decision it conflicted with her "moral compass," the statement said.

It added that she believes "Spain should have voluntarily relinquished the painting."