ALL-OUT ART WAR

A baroness and her daughter-in-law are battling for control of priceless Rothschild masterpieces

- COMPILED BY LAVERN DE VRIES

A WIDOWED baroness banned from her own estate, a daughter-in-law blocking access to priceless paintings and lawyers circling like vultures over one of the world's biggest private art collections.

It sounds like the plot of a bingeworthy telenovela – but for one of Europe's most powerful families, this billion-dollar nightmare is playing out in real time.

The Rothschild banking empire is embroiled in a bitter legal dispute over its sprawling art collection housed at Château de Pregny. The historic Swiss estate – described as a mini-Louvre – features masterpieces by Rembrandt, Goya and El Greco, alongside furniture from the French royal court and other historical objects handed down from generation to generation.

At the centre of the legal battle is 93-year-old Baroness Nadine de Rothschild, who's fighting her daughter-in-law, Ariane, over control of the collection.

Nadine claims her late husband, Edmond, bequeathed her a substantial part of the treasure trove, which she wants to transfer to a new museum in Geneva under her charity, the Edmond and Nadine de Rothschild Foundation.

But Ariane (60), who inherited the château from the couple's only son, Benjamin, insists the collection must remain intact at the family estate.

The fallout has been brutal. Multiple lawsuits have wound through Swiss courts, with legal fees alone running into the millions.

Nadine, who helped curate the collection and called the château home for nearly four decades, has been barred from entering the estate she once ruled.