A landscape painting by Claude Monet, part of an extensive collection of art held by German recluse Cornelius Gurlitt, was handed over to investigators this week, a spokesman said Friday, according to dpa.
The piece belonged to a trove of approximately 1,500 artworks,
discovered by German authorities in 2012 and made public last autumn.
The blue-tinged painting on paper, thought to have been painted in 1864, closely resembles a catalogued Monet that is entitled 'Vue de Sainte-Adresse.'
Gurlitt died in May, aged 81. His father was an art dealer in the Nazi-era.
Hospital staff discovered the painting at the start of this week when
they opened a suitcase Gurlitt had at his bedside while he was being treated for terminal cardiac disease.
Gurlitt, a reclusive man who lived alone, reportedly treated the paintings as friends, carrying favourites with him for reassurance.
Whether the Monet was looted by Nazis remained unknown.