NYC judge halts sale of Picasso painting

NEW YORK -- A judge temporarily blocked the auction of a Picasso painting that was expected to fetch up to $60 million, saying he needed to decide whether the Nazis forced its former owner to sell it in the 1930s because his family descended from Jews.\nU.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff issued the order Monday, three days after Julius H. Schoeps, an heir to Berlin banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan to stop the sale.\nA hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, a day before the "Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto" was to be auctioned at Christie's.\nThe painting of de Soto, who shared a studio with Pablo Picasso, was put up for sale by the Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, a London-based charity.\nIn the lawsuit, which was filed under seal Friday, Schoeps sought to be declared the lawful owner.\nThe oil-on-canvas painting, signed and dated in 1903, was described in a Christie's catalog as capturing de Soto's haunting face with heavy features.\n"The elegantly dressed sitter appears to scrutinize the viewer with an intense gaze, his inner agitation suggested by the forceful brushstrokes and the cloud of smoke hovering above him," said the catalog for the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale.\nChristie's said the painting, estimated to sell for $40 million to $60 million, was being sold by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's foundation for income to be spent on a variety of charitable purposes.