( CNN ) -- Part of an art collection confiscated because it may contain pieces looted by the Nazis is being returned to its owner , prosecutors in the German town of Augsburg said Wednesday . Prosecutors said they had returned the seized collection to Cornelius Gurlitt , who inherited the almost priceless artworks from his father , in light of new evidence . Their statement came two days after news of a deal between Gurlitt , Germany 's cultural authorities and the Bavarian Justice Ministry under which he agreed to allow research into the origins of suspected cases of looted or so-called `` degenerate '' art . Under the deal , works owned by Gurlitt which are not under suspicion can be returned to him . Those suspected of being stolen will be held securely while a task force investigates their provenance -- and will be returned to their original Jewish owners or their descendants if a claim is proven . Works which have not been investigated by the end of a year will be returned to Gurlitt , it says . It 's not clear how many pieces may be the subject of claims from those who believe they were looted decades ago . But a statement on Gurlitt 's website says that `` according to current information at most 3 % of the 1,280 confiscated works '' could be involved . That would work out to about 38 paintings . Gurlitt 's spokesman , Stephan Holzinger , said Monday that there was a second claimant for a Henri Matisse painting found in his hoard , `` Femme assise '' or `` Seated Woman . '' Gurlitt 's lawyer has said the claim must be properly examined before the painting can be returned . However , this does n't change Gurlitt 's intention to return pictures to their rightful owners if a claim is proven , Holzinger said . Among the staggering haul found in Gurlitt 's Munich , Bavaria , apartment in early 2012 were paintings by Pablo Picasso , Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec , Oskar Kokoschka , Canaletto , Pierre-August Renoir , Franz Marc and Gustav Courbet . Gurlitt , 81 , says he never suspected that the collection he inherited from his father might include stolen artworks . Thousands of pieces of art condemned as `` degenerate '' by the Nazis were confiscated from galleries and private collectors in the 1930s and 1940s . Other works were stolen from Jewish families or sold for a fraction of their true value as the owners tried to flee the country . Gurlitt 's father , Hildebrand Gurlitt , who was part Jewish , survived the war as one of only four `` degenerate art '' dealers permitted by Adolf Hitler . Prosecutors cite new evidence , objections . It was last May when experts revealed that the artworks -- many long feared lost or destroyed , and some which had never been recorded -- had been discovered in Gurlitt 's apartment in the Schwabing area of Munich . The vast collection , which experts have said has `` a value so high it can not be estimated , '' was recovered by German tax authorities in connection with an inquiry into tax evasion in February and March 2012 . In its statement , Wednesday , the prosecutor 's office defended its decision to seize the cache , now known as the Schwabing art trove , on the grounds it might contain stolen art . `` At the time of the confiscation of the entire collection , the Augsburg prosecution was entirely convinced of the rightfulness of the measure , '' it said . But , it said , the new evidence and the representations of Gurlitt 's defense lawyers have led the office `` to assess the legal situation anew . '' The investigation is not yet concluded , however , the prosecution said . The defense has applied to view more files and has yet to make its position public , it added . 'Fair solutions ' Gurlitt told German magazine Der Spiegel last November that he longed for the paintings he inherited to be returned to him -- and that he regarded them as his only friends . The reclusive retiree also defended his father 's wartime dealings , saying `` maybe he was offered something privately , but he would not have taken it . It would not have been good for him . '' His father , by all accounts a savvy dealer , removed the huge collection from his house in Dresden during the devastating bombing in the final days of World War II , and moved it to what later became West Germany . A statement on Gurlitt 's website states that he `` was at all times convinced that he had inherited a collection from his father that predominantly consisted of so-called degenerate art from former German Reich property in public collections and museums , '' and that he was unaware it `` includes a few works that today can be qualified as looted art . '' Now , it says , he is `` is prepared to review and arrive at fair solutions together with the claimants for those works that are suspected of being looted art in such instances where qualified , documented , and justified claims for their return are asserted by heirs of Jewish of persecution and where morally compelling grounds exist . '' CNN 's Bryony Jones contributed to this report .
A stunning art collection confiscated from Gurlitt has been returned to him . He has agreed to return works to their owners if it 's proven they were stolen by the the Bavarian Justice Ministry . Cornelius Gurlitt says he inherited the collection from his father and was unaware any were suspect . The huge art trove was found in his West Germany apartment by German tax authorities in today .