“There is not one document from the foundation purporting to give these gifts…”

From the Cape Breton Post:

New Brunswick’s Beaverbrook Art Gallery is planning a national tour of masterpieces in its collection, including many that are currently at the heart of a bitter and protracted ownership dispute. The principals in the legal tug of war were once again before a judicial panel Monday as the appeal began on an earlier arbitration ruling that gave the bulk of the disputed art treasures to New Brunswick’s provincial art gallery – the Beaverbrook.

At stake are some of the most valuable masterpieces on display anywhere in Canada, including “The Fountain of Indolence,” by British artist J.M.W. Turner, estimated to be worth $25 million, and “Hotel Bedroom” by Lucian Freud, which could fetch at least $5 million.

The Beaverbrook U.K. Foundation, a philanthropic group founded by the press baron, and now run by his grandson, Maxwell Aitken III, claims the works were merely on loan all these years, and now the foundation wants them back.

All of the masterpieces, which include Biotic, Sargents and Hogarths, are estimated to be worth at least $100 million.