By Chris Pleasance Cornelius Gurlitt, 81, who his a £1bn trove of suspected stolen Nazi art in his Munich flat it to be given some of the art back A German recluse accused of hording £1billion worth of art thought to be stolen by the Nazis is to get some paintings back, a court has ruled. Thousands of works by masters such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Otto Dix were discovered in the house of 81-year-old Cornelius Gurlitt in 2012 during a small-scale tax investigation. Gurlitt has now agreed to return any work which investigators can prove was stolen, but if there is no evidence of theft after a year then the paintings will be released to him.
@highlight
1,401 paintings discovered in 2012 in apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt
@highlight
Works thought to be a £1billion trove of potentially stolen Nazi art
@highlight
Under new deal, art historians will have a year to investigate pictures
@highlight
If they can prove work was stolen Gurlitt will return it to owners
@highlight
However, if they cannot, or if they don't finish research, he will get it back
@highlight
Gurlitt's spokesman said he expects 300 to 350 paintings to be returned
Pablo Picasso
The collection, which includes works by @placeholder, Matisse and Dix was discovered inside his Munich apartment
Cornelius Gurlitt
Cornelius Gurlitt
Gurlitt
Cornelius Gurlitt
Gurlitt
Gurlitt
After the year is up any painting they cannot prove is stolen, or any painting which they have not finished studying, will be returned to @placeholder.