Aix-en-Provence. An elderly electrician French and his wife were sentenced Friday to obtain illicitly hundreds of works by the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who remained hidden for almost 40 years in the garage of his home.
A court of appeals in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence handed down a two-year suspended sentence for Pierre Le Guennec -who performed the electrical work in the home of the last wife of Pablo Picasso in the early 70′s – and his wife, Danielle.
he Also ordered the delivery of the works to the heirs of Picasso, as well as the payment of the legal costs and other related services.
The court held equally a prior opinion that brought an end to six years of a legal process that began when the marriage Le Guennec took the 180 paintings, other works and a book with 91 drawings that were identified in 2009-10, revealing its existence.
The works, which were stored in a box in the garage of the Le Guennec, have a total estimated value of between 60 and 100 million euros (63 to us $ 105 million), according to prosecutors.
Pierre Le Guennec, a 77-year old, worked a lot in the villa which had a Picasso in the village of Mougins, on the French Riviera. At trial, he argued that Jacqueline Picasso gave him the works after the artist’s death in 1973, which opened up a struggle for succession between her and her son-in-law, Claude.
The lawyer for Claude Picasso, Jean-Jacques Neuer, celebrated the ruling on Friday and said to journalists that the works are in perfect condition after almost four decades in storage.
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