US judge blocks Lloyd Webber's NY Picasso sale

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's art foundation has temporarily been stopped by a US judge from selling a Picasso painting worth up to 60 million dollars after a German man claimed he owned the piece.

The painting from Picasso's Blue Period, ''Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto,'' is due to be sold at Christie's in New York tomorrow and the auction house has valued the piece at between 40 million dollars and 60 million dollars.

But Julius Schoeps has sued Lloyd Webber's foundation, saying he is an heir of a Jewish banker from Berlin who was forced to sell the painting in 1934 as a ''consequence of Nazi persecution,'' court documents showed yesterday.

US Judge Jed Rakoff has temporarily halted the sale of the 1903 painting, also known as ''The Absinthe Drinker,'' until the matter is heard on Tuesday.

Christie's has possession of the painting, of an elegantly dressed friend of Picasso's sitting solemnly at a table with a glass before him. Proceeds from its sale are due to benefit unidentified charities.

Reuters DH VP0720