Bavarian officials are remaining tight-lipped about an incredible tale of lost modern art worth millions of euros.<br /><br /> The vast trove, containing works by Picasso, Matisse and Chagall, was discovered by chance, rotting among stacks of groceries in a Munich flat.<br /><br /> It had been seized by war-time German art dealer, Hildebrand Gurlitt, whose reclusive son Cornelius sold pieces whenever he was strapped for cash.<br /><br /> Art expert Wilhelm Warning said the pictures are priceless: “They were considered ‘degenerate’ by Hitler’s Third Reich, and their value is incalculable, if they’re not fakes.”<br /><br /> German customs officials made the sensational find in 2011 after a 76-year-old man was found carrying a large, albeit legal, amount of cash.<br /><br /> Ruediger Mahlo, a spokesman for the Conference on Jewish material claims against Germany, in Germany said: “This case shows the extent of organised art robbery in museums and private collections, which were almost all in Jewish possession.”<br /><br /> Experts are now trying to determine the ownership of the art works.<br /><br /> But Bavarian officials have declined to comment on why it took them so long to reveal what could be one of the largest recoveries of Nazi-looted art.
