European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 6, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Steven greenhouse new York times scandal has captivated France and it has All the elements of a Good detective novel a nurse who is accused of taking advantage of a frail and aging heiress a 17th-Century painting that was supposedly stolen a will that May be a forgery lawyers accused of being criminal accomplices and the indictment of an internationally renowned museum curator on charges of having received stolen goods. While the French Public is fascinated by the affair the Art world is scandalized shocked that one of the louvre s chief curators Pierre Rosenberg could be indicted for having bought a painting that his supporters say he could not have known was stolen. The painting now hanging in the louvre is the gentleman of Seville a somber portrait of a Nobleman by the spaniard Bartolome Esteban Murillo. Rosenberg one of France s most visible and respected curators was instrumental in the louvre s Purchase of the painting for $625,000 in 1985. According to the investigating magistrate in the Case the painting belonged to Suzanne de Canson an eccentric heiress who was bequeathed a $50 million Art collection that also included works by Titian and Rembrandt. But the person the louvre bought the Murillo from was Joelle Pesnel a one time bar owner who for three years was de Canson s nurse and confidante until the heiress died in 1986 at the age of 76. Pesnel contends that the Murillo was a legacy from her grandmother who she said had been Given it and other works by de Canson. The rest of the de Canson collection was left to Pesnel in a will executed by de Canson six months before she died. Some of the collection has since been sold. Although the magistrate Jean Pierre Bernard has not spoken publicly the Crux of the Case against Rosenberg appears to be that since he offered to buy the Murillo from de Canson in 1981, he should have suspected that it had been stolen when he saw that it was being sold four years later by someone else. The Central figure in the Case is Pesnel a 48-year-old former Art student who was indicted last june on charges of theft falsification of a will and failure to help a person in danger that person being de Canson. In november Pesnel was also indicted on charges of sequestration the charge being that she kept de Canson locked in a room night and Day. Pesnel the indictment says ingratiate herself with de Canson soon after she met the heiress in 1983. De Canson had recently lost her longtime nurse and confidante and Pesnel quickly filled the void. Before Long de Canson who had inherited her Art collection from her father whose Fortune came from the family s paper manufacturing company was living in Pesnel s suburban Villa outside Toulon in Southern France. French newspapers have reported that Pesnel held the frail heiress prisoner and some of Pesnel s neighbors said they occasionally heard cries for help. A House servant has testified that de Canson was not properly fed had the gentleman of Seville by Murillo focus of dispute hangs in the louvre. Deteriorated mentally and physically and had even started eating pillows. Early in 1985, the year before de Canson died Pesnel asked Christie s of London to put the Murillo up for auction at a minimum Price of $1.2 million. The auction was scheduled for july but when a Swiss Art dealer who had often handled de Canson s collection Learned that the Murillo was being sold under the name of another owner he told Christie s the matter appeared suspicious. French customs officials protested to Christie s that the Murillo had been exported illegally. In addition Christie s heard from officials at the louvre who said the French government intended to exercise its right of Preemption since the painting had been in France. France has Strong Laws allowing it to prevent artworks from being exported by buying them for the auction Price. Christie s then withdrew the Murillo from the auction. Paul Lombard a flamboyant trial lawyer representing Pesnel then negotiated the Sale of the painting to the ouvre for $625,000. Lombard who was a negotiator in the Picasso and Chagall legacies received a fee of $50,000 for his work. When she was asked to prove that she owned the painting Pesnel provided papers saying she owned the work under the Chapuis legacy Chapuis being the name of her grandmother who had died in 1979. The will which the investigating magistrate asserts was a forgery was registered in Geneva in 1985. Pesnel said it was registered so Long after her grandmother s death because she had Only recently discovered the document. Pesnel also provided papers saying de Canson had Given the painting to her grandmother. Once the Sale to the louvre was completed everyone seemed Happy until june 1987, when Jeanne Deschamps the 85-year-old sister of de Canson filed a lawsuit contending that her sister s Art collection had been misappropriated. De Canson died on sept. 16,1986, and was cremated with what some investigators say was suspicious haste. Six months before her death she had willed her artworks to Pesnel but a maid in the Pesnel household has testified that de Canson appeared to be under duress at the time. That will remains in dispute but in his investigation magistrate Bernard quickly concluded that the will of Pesnel s grandmother giving her Art collection to her granddaughter was fraudulent. He noted that the grandmother died a pauper and had never known de Canson and thus would never have been Given paintings by her. In addition to indicting Pesnel Bernard also indicted Robert Boissonnea a Toulon lawyer in october on charges of taking part in the fraud and sequestration. The scandal was a local Toulon affair until it seized the nation s attention when Rosenberg was indicted in december. It grew even larger when Lombard was then charged with taking part in a fraud. Investigators say a typewriter in his Law office was used to Type an inventory of artworks included with the disputed will Lombard said a Legal assistant who has also been indicted had merely Lent the typewriter to his client Pesnel. Rosenberg has been formally charged with buying a painting that he knew or should have known was stolen. Investigators said privately that Rosenberg should have known something was amiss because Pesnel s papers had said that she had obtained the Murillo through her grandmother s 1979 will while Rosenberg had written two letters to de Canson in 1981 expressing interest in purchasing her Murillo painting. Rosenberg often considered a superstar among France s curators has received the backing of the louvre and France s minister of culture. In addition he has received More than 200 letters of support from colleagues in the Art world in France and overseas. Pierre Rosenberg is one of the most reputable and respected people in the whole world of Art history said Sydney Freedberg a retired chief curator at the National gallery of Art in Washington. The action taken by the French Law is one which has almost no conceivable rational  an expert on 17th and 18th-Century Art Rosenberg is the louvre s chief curator for painting and has been the Leader in the government s Campaign to be More aggressive in Art acquisitions. An exhibition Rosenberg organized on the 18th-Century French Painter Jean Honore Fragonard was highly praised when it travelled to the metropolitan museum of Art in new York City last february. Many Art experts say they Are confident Rosenberg will be exonerated. Curators Are bitter about All this said Jean Clair a curator at the Pompidou Center in Paris. Being a curator is one of the worst paid professions and now we have to worry about things like  Page 16 the stars and stripes Friday january 6,1989