1925: Mrs Bondi, an Austrian Jew, owner of an art gallery in Vienna, acquired the painting “Portrait of Wally” by Egon Schiele for herself.

1938: German troops occupied Austria and annexed it to Nazi Germany (Anschluss). Mrs Bondi’s gallery was declared “non-aryan” and subject to confiscation.

1938, around March 13: Mrs Bondi sold the art gallery to Mr Welz for 13.500.- Reichmark. Mr Welz was a member of the National Socialist German Workers. He decided to aryanize the art gallery. The transfer of “Portrait of Wally” to Mr Welz is unclear. Mrs Bondi and her husband migrated to England.

1939 or 1940: Mr Welz acquired a number of Schiele’s paintings and drawings from Dr Rieger, a collector and Austrian Jew. Dr Rieger and his wife died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp (1942).

May 1945: United States Forces occupied Austria. They arrested Mr Welz and seized his property, including “Portrait of Wally”.

May 1947: Dr Rieger’s son engaged attorneys to recover the property taken by the Nazi. His attorney wrote to the Reparations, Deliveries and Restitution Division (RDR) of the United States. The letter did not contain any reference to the painting “Portrait of Wally”.

December 1947: The RDR released fourteen paintings the United States Forces had seized to the Bundesdenkmal, the Austrian Federal Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments (BDA). “Portrait of Wally” was one of the paintings delivered by the RDR.

May 1950: The BDA delivered several paintings, including “Portrait of Wally”, to the Rieger heirs.

Late 1950: The Rieger heirs negotiated the sale of artworks from Rieger’s collection to the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Belvedere). The Austrian Federal Ministry of Education approved the purchase of eleven paintings, including three Schiele’s works. Although not explicitly referenced in either the Ministry of Education approval or the agreement, “Portrait of Wally” was included in the transaction. 

1953: An art collector, Dr Leopold, visited Mrs Bondi in London. He acquired several paintings from her. In the course of this transaction, Mrs Bondi asked Dr Leopold where “Portrait of Wally” was. Dr Leopold answered that the painting was at the Belvedere.

September 1954: Dr Leopold acquired “Portrait of Wally”. He did not ask the Belvedere for any documentation showing that “Portrait of Wally” had been returned to the Rieger heirs.

1969: Mrs Bondi died. She never filed a formal lawsuit to obtain the restitution of “Portrait of Wally”.

August 1994: Dr Leopold sold his collection to the newly established Museum (Leopold Museum) and became the Museum’s “Museological Director” for life.

1995: The Leopold Museum prepared a catalogue for three expositions. The provenance note on “Portrait of Wally”, authored by Dr Leopold himself, was as follows: “Emil Toepfer, Wien; Richard Lanyi, Wien; Lea Bondi Jaray, Wien später London; Österreichische Galerie, Wien; Rudolf Leopold, Wien.”

1997: The Museum loaned and shipped part of its Schiele collection, including “Portrait of Wally”, to the New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

1997-1998: The MoMA exhibited “Portrait of Wally”.

1998: Three days after the end of the exhibition, the District Attorney of New York County issued a subpoena for the painting after Mrs Bondi heirs filed a claim alleging that the painting was stolen in 1938. The subpoena was quashed by the New York Court of Appeals on September 21 (violation of Section 12.03 of New York’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Law which protect artwork on loan to museums in New York from seizure in both criminal and civil actions).

The next day, United States Magistrate Judge James C. Francis issued a seizure warrant for the painting. The U.S. Customs Service seized the painting under the National Stolen Property Act (NSPA) on the ground that it was stolen property and unlawfully imported into the United States.

20 July 2010: After years of inconclusive litigation, the Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray announced the settlement of the case with the U.S. Government and the Leopold Museum by an unprecedented agreement.