JPMorgan Chase & Co has launched legal action challenging the ownership of The Bend in the Herengracht. (left) -- PHOTO: AP
THE HAGUE (Netherlands) - THE NETHERLANDS'S national museum says American bank JPMorgan Chase & Co has launched legal action challenging the ownership of a masterpiece from the Dutch Golden Age.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam says it bought the painting by Gerrit Berckheyde, titled The Bend in the Herengracht, last year and has never displayed it.
The 17th century work depicting stately houses lining one of Amsterdam's famous canals is on display at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Rijksmuseum director of collections Taco Dibbits said Friday that JPMorgan has filed a claim on the painting in a New York federal court.
Dibbits declined to name the person who sold the oil painting to the museum last year and says the museum has not yet been able to contact him. -- AP
