The adult children of celebrated Australian artist John Olsen have withdrawn their claim that a 1964 painting being sold by Sotheby's was stolen decades ago.
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Late last year, Gallery owner Tim Olsen and his jewellery designer sister Louise Olsen took the prominent art auction house to the NSW Supreme Court over the painting called The Mother.
On the rear of the canvas is an inscription that reads: "For my darling Valerie, John Olsen '64".
The plaintiffs said the artist gave the painting to his then-wife Valerie Olsen as a gift following the birth of Louise.
Tim and Louise claimed Valerie, who died in 2011, had an "emotional attachment to the painting" and "she would not have parted with possession of the painting under any circumstances".
"Who ever gave you the painting to sell are not the rightful owners of the painting," they said in a flurry of correspondence between their lawyers and lawyers for Sotheby's.
"It is clear that the painting has been stolen from Mrs Olsen and [we] are referring the matter to the police."
However, the pair was forced to discontinue the case last month after John Olsen remembered that he in fact gifted the painting in 1966.
His memory was prompted after Tim and Louise hired a private investigator to track down the painting's whereabouts since it "disappeared" following an exhibition in England in 1966.
The private investigator found an art collector who remembered John and his family stayed in the home of the collector's relative in Portugal for several months in 1966. John gifted the painting in lieu of rent.
The case began in July last year when Tim Olsen discovered the painting was being offered for sale by Sotheby's on behalf of an unnamed vendor.
Tim Olsen recalled that, at some time, his mother said to him: "There was a painting that John did for me when Louise was born that disappeared and it has constantly worried me throughout my life." Tim thought this must be the artwork she meant.
Sotheby's refused to reveal the identity of the vendor and Tim and Louise Olsen asked the court to force its hand. The pair also sought an urgent court injunction to stop Sotheby's from selling or in any way transferring the painting until the case could be heard in full.
The pair claimed the rightful owner was Mrs Olsen's estate, of which they were executors.
Tim Olsen told the court that, at some time, his mother said to him: "There was a painting that John did for me when Louise was born that disappeared and it has constantly worried me throughout my life."
The court was also given a letter written by John Olsen on August 4 that says: "I have no memory of selling this painting as it was a gift to my wife Valerie, and I therefore require a provenance."
Following John Olsen's recollection, Tim and Louise discontinued the case. Justice John Sackar ordered the plaintiffs pay Sotheby's costs.
Olsen, the 2005 Archibald Prize winner, is still painting in his 80s, and is revered as one of the country's greatest living artists.
His primary subject is landscape and his work is exhibited in all Australian state gallery collections, the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, and regional galleries across Australia.
Tim Olsen runs the Olsen Irwin art gallery in Woollahra while his sister founded jewellery and homewares brand Dinosaur Designs.
