A recluse found with 1,406 artworks in his Munich flat left them all to a Swiss museum, and his cousin said he was not of sound mind

Cornelius Gurlitt's father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, was a museum director and art dealer who sold Nazi-looted art. Cornelius inherited the collection after his mother died in 1968. In 2010 he was stopped on a train carrying €9,000 in cash. Customs officers later searched his sister's Munich flat, where he lived, and found 1,406 works. The magazine Focus revealed the find on 3 November 2013. The Augsburg prosecutor confiscated the works; no tax case was ever brought. A further 250-plus works were found at his house in Salzburg. Gurlitt died on 6 May 2014. His will named the Kunstmuseum Bern as sole heir. The museum accepted in November 2014 under an agreement with German and Swiss authorities to research provenance. His cousin Uta Werner challenged the will, citing a psychiatric report diagnosing dementia, schizoid personality disorder and delusional disorder. A Munich court ruled that incapacity "has not been proved." Werner appealed and lost on 15 December 2016. The museum said the fight had cost about CHF 1.5 million. Fourteen works were proven to be looted. A Matisse went back to Paul Rosenberg's heirs; a Liebermann went to David Friedmann's heirs and sold in June 2015.