A century-old painting by Pablo Picasso has resurfaced after vanishing from the University of Pittsburgh in 1961. The Guggenheim Foundation is now suing its current owners, accusing them of unlawfully withholding and benefiting from the stolen artwork.

The compact canvas, measuring just over a foot square, was part of an exhibition at the university when it disappeared without a trace. It had been loaned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the fall semester that year before its return to the museum was due in March 1961.

The handlers of the case, Lawrence Jay Handler and Wendy Cohen Handler, acquired the painting from Beadleston Fine Art in Manhattan in 1999, nearly four decades after it went missing. The Guggenheim Foundation filed a lawsuit this week in New York State Supreme Court, seeking to recover the painting valued at millions as of today.

The case harks back to another precedent-setting court battle by the museum over a stolen Chagall gouache, which was recovered from a good-faith buyer who had acquired it years earlier. The Guggenheim argues that despite a lengthy wait, they remain the rightful owners and are entitled to compensation.