Bic Family Heirs File Lawsuit for Return of Fra Angelico Painting ‘Stolen’ by Chauffeur
Heirs to the Bic family fortune sued in New York on March 19 for the return of a Fra Angelico painting, Saint Sixtus (ca. 1453–55), alleging it was stolen by the family’s chauffeur and later sold through the art market before fetching $5.4 million at Christie’s in 2018. The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court for the State of New York, names as defendants the executors of dealer Richard L. Feigen’s estate (Feigen died in 2021) and collectors Álvaro Saieh and Ana Guzman, who allegedly bought the work at Christie’s; Christie’s is not a defendant. The heirs claim Bic founder Baron Marcel Bich bought the painting in 1972 and it later hung in Bruno Bich’s New York apartment until chauffeur Roy Morrow allegedly stole it and sold it to Feigen for $3 million, which the suit calls a “fire-sale price.” The heirs say they learned in 2023 that Saieh and Guzman owned the painting and demanded its return in 2024, while the NYPD told Gothamist no theft report had been filed.
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This story was covered in Museums Under Siege, Auctions Breaking Records