The painter’s descendants demanded the restitution of the house where the artist grew up. They were turned down in front of husbands Corinne and Jean-Claude Putzola, whom they accuse of “fraud” and D'”abuse of weakness and trust», But do not want to stop there.
The prosecution appealed against the court decision dismissing the Toulouse-Lautrec family, which demanded the return of the castle where the painter grew up in Aveyron, Rodez prosecutor Olivier Naboulet said on Tuesday (September 21).
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On Wednesday, September 15, the Rodez Correctional Court released the current owners, Corinne and Jean-Claude Putzola, accused of “fraud” and D'”abuse of weakness and trust“. The appeal trial must take place in Montpellier.
18 months in prison required, 15 civil parties
At the hearing on June 2, prosecutor Bernard Salvador requested an 18-month suspended sentence against the Putzola couple, believing that they had taken advantage of the vulnerability of Nicole Tapié de Celeyran, a great-granddaughter. niece of Toulouse-Lautrec and occupant of the castle until her death in 2016, at the age of 91. The old lady was “Blinded by Putzola, they abused her legal ignorance”, he had then denounced.
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«Obviously, it is abject to take advantage of the vulnerability of an elderly person, but in this file, there is nothing to prove their guilt.Putzola’s lawyer, Elian Gaudy, had argued.
Fifteen descendants of Toulouse-Lautrec and Nicole Tapié de Celeyran had become civil parties in this affair, notably asking for ownership of the 12th century estate. The Toulouse-Lautrec museum in Albi was also a civil party.
The painter spent his childhood there
Four months before his death, the painter’s heiress had appointed Jean-Claude Putzola and his wife Corinne as the sole universal legatees of the Château de Bosc located in the commune of Camjac, and a 22-hectare park. It is in this house, classified as a historical monument and “estimated at over one million euros»According to Me Rastoul, that Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) spent part of his childhood.
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The two sixties, who then lived in the Hérault, did not meet the old lady until August 2015, a year before her death, through a cousin by marriage of the heiress. Quickly they settle in the private apartments of the castle. A few weeks later, in October, they appear on a will of the nonagenarian, alongside other heirs “natural».
Three other wills will follow, until the last one, in April 2016 where only the name of the Putzola appears. Before her death, Nicole Tapié from Celeyran had also transferred a sum of 20,000 euros to their account.
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