MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. The Russian Supreme Court has delivered its judgement refusing to return famous Russian artist Karl Briullov ‘Christ in the Tomb’ painting to German art collector Alexander Pevzner, TASS reports from the courtroom.
Therefore, the court granted a cassation appeal filed by Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Leonid Korzinek. The Supreme Court eliminated orders to return the painting to Irina and Alexander Pevzner from the judgements made earlier.
"It is unclear how to comply with this ruling. The painting’s destiny is hanging in mid-air, the museum does not own it," defense attorney Maksim Krupsky said. In 2017, the Supreme Court Presidium ruled to return the painting to the art collector but the decision was not enforced.
The ‘Christ in the Tomb’ masterpiece was painted by Karl Briullov in the 1840s and was meant for Count Vladimir Adlerberg whose descendants bequeathed the painting to an Orthodox parish in Brussels. Fast-forward to our days, the prior of the parish, being in a terrible financial situation, sold the artwork to Alexander Pevzner. A few years ago, Pevzner decided to send the painting to St. Petersburg’s Russian Museum for authentication, but as law enforcement agencies identified he came up with deliberate misrepresentations when crossing the border which prompted a criminal investigation into him. The painting was stationed in the Russian Museum for a few years as a result without the right to use it in museum activities.
After the case made its way through various courts, it ended up in the Russian Supreme Court that excluded the order to return the painting to its owner in 2016 from the judgement. Thus, the artwork was transferred to the Russian Museum. However, the art collector appealed the decision to the Russian Constitutional Court that ruled to revise the decision.