But the courts initially upheld a 1952 settlement the Dutch government made with Goudstikker's widow. Jacques Goudstikker's collection was seized by the Nazi German authorities after their troops occupied the Netherlands in 1940. The collection includes works by 17th-Century Dutch and Italian masters. It puts everybody zero distance from everybody and everything else. Best-known among the Dutch-held works are a 1649 Salomon van Ruysdael river landscape that is one of the greatest masterpieces in the Rijksmuseum. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Reuters Limited. Goudstikker's daughter-in-law and one of his two granddaughters traveled to the Netherlands last week from their home in Connecticut to await a decision by the Dutch Cabinet, which discussed the return of the works on Friday.

The collection includes works by Dutch masters Van Ruysdael, Van Goyen and Van Dyck. The museum would also considering purchasing back the works, he said. Family spokesman Roeland van der Heiden said the Dutch government has told the family to expect a decision as early as Sunday night. Clearing and settlement on the reverse tender will be on Monday January 19 th T+3. The paintings sold and donated Tuesday all date from the 1600s and are considered important works by Dutch masters who typified a school or style of painting, but none were by artists with the stature of Rembrandt or Jan Steen. Hitler's air minister Hermann Goering and his Nazi cohorts looted much of the collection of some 1,300 works Goudstikker left behind. The ministry is paying 3 million euros 2 million pounds for the four works.

The Rijksmuseum has three tapestries, 12 drawings and 15 paintings from the Goudstikker collection. Museum spokesman Boris de Munnick said the museum would not hesitate to hand over the works if the government decided it must. Both domestic Necigef and Euroclear settlement is possible.