Cornelius Gurlitt, the man who kept a cache of nearly 1,300 artworks hidden for several decades, died on May 5 at age 81. His trove of art, some Nazi-looted, came into the public eye late last year after German authorities seized his collection in a Munich apartment and a home in Austria.

“After a serious heart surgery and a week-long stay in a hospital, it was the request of the deceased to return to his apartment in Schwabing,” said a statement from Gurlitt’s reps Stephan Holzinger and Dr. Rönsberg Setz, and his lawyers Christoph Edel and Prof. Dr. Park. “There he was in nursing care and taken care off in recent weeks around the clock.”

After initial resistance, Gurlitt had just last month agreed to the return of artworks proven stolen or Nazi-looted to the rightful owners. An investigation was underway, including provenence research on the artworks.

The Bavarian Ministry of Justice said it will hold an emergency meeting on the Munich Art Trove. It is not known how the process to return artworks will conintue, or who Gurlitt's heirs are.