A painting stolen from a Jewish family has become the first work from Cornelius Gurlitt’s collection of looted art to be sold at auction.

Two Riders on a Beach by German-Jewish artist Max Liebermann fetched £1.9 million at a sale at Sotheby’s in London.

It was one of more than 1,200 works found in Gurlitt apartment in 2012 in a stash containing paintings by Picasso, Chagall and Cézanne.

Gurlitt, who died last year , inherited the collection from his father, an art dealer who was hired by the Nazis to collect “degenerate” artwork.

The Liebermann painting had been returned to the heirs of its original Jewish owner, David Friedmann, who put it up for sale.

The identity of the buyer has not been revealed.

Sotheby's director Bernhard Brandstaetter said the Gurlitt collection was "probably the most significant find in the last 30 years".

He added: “The challenge is to go through the provenance of every single picture in this collection.

"It is a lengthy process to establish where a picture comes from, when it was bought and so on.

The auction also included a Gustav Klimt portrait which was looted from its Jewish owners by the Nazis.
It sold for £24,789,000, exceeding the pre-sale estimate of £18 million.