Category Archives: Art Theft

Another Goya, another art law story

Posted on: October 15, 2015 by Alexander Herman

As hinted at, there is another painting currently hanging at the Goya exhibition at the National Gallery with a story to tell. Unlike the Marquesa de Santa Cruz, this one relates to an episode involving theft, a botched ransom scheme and the adoption of new criminal legislation. It is a portrait painted by Francisco Goya over a two-year […]

Art and Limitation Periods

Posted on: August 19, 2015 by Alexander Herman

A painting was stolen in 1991. It was a work referred to as Girl in Sunlight by Australian impressionist Rupert Bunny (see below). It was owned by James Watt from Melbourne. Watt tried to recover the painting, but there was nothing he could do. He died in 1993. In May 2010 the painting was seized by the […]

Update and thoughts on Gurlitt

Posted on: August 6, 2015 by Alexander Herman

It has been some time since we discussed the Gurlitt affair in these pages. And what has happened since? Well, the challenge to Gurlitt’s will by his cousin Uta Werner has continued on. It is now before the Higher Regional Court in Munich (Oberlandesgericht München) and just last month the Court requested a psychological opinion concerning Gurlitt’s competence […]

Behind the scenes of the Subhash Kapoor operation

Posted on: July 30, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

An interesting and in-depth article appeared last week in the New York Times about Subhash Kapoor’s antiquities smuggling operation. This involved looted antiquities that had been taken from a number of cultural and religious sites throughout India, then sold to unsuspecting buyers. These were buyers of importance, including the National Gallery of Australia, which had purchased […]

Written Heritage of Mankind in Peril – Conference, 26 June

Posted on: April 24, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

The Institute of Art and Law, the Union Internationale des Avocats and the British Library present a one-of-a-kind conference on the theft, retrieval, sale and restitution of rare books, maps and manuscripts. The conference is entitled The Written Heritage of Mankind in Peril and will take place at the Conference Centre of the British Library in London on Friday, […]

Dutch Restitutions Committee rejects Stettiner claim

Posted on: April 17, 2015 by Alexander Herman

Last month, the Dutch Restitutions Committee published its recommendation regarding a claim brought forward by the heirs of the three Stettiner siblings who ran the Stettiner Gallery in Paris until it was closed during the Second World War. The claim involved a portrait by Salomon Koninck (1609-1656) entitled Old Man with Beard, which currently forms part […]

ISIS in Iraq: How much looting?

Posted on: August 26, 2014 by Alexander Herman

A few recent articles have reported on the looting of antiquities from the areas of Syria and Iraq controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS): in The Guardian in June, The Sunday Times in July and the International Business Times. It is unclear from the sources whether such looting is actually being perpetrated by members of ISIS or […]

Art and Antiquities Study Forum – 28 June 2014

Posted on: June 6, 2014 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper

There will be an IAL Art and Antiquities Study Forum held in central London on 28 June 2014. It will be an all-day event. Topics to be discussed include authenticity and valuation disputes; handling stolen goods; international conventions; art, freedom of expression and human rights; human remains in museums. Speakers include Kevin Chamberlain (barrister), Dick Ellis […]

Appeal of decision on Rupert Bunny painting

Posted on: May 16, 2014 by Alexander Herman

This week, the Court of Appeal of Victoria in Australia, rendered an appeal decision regarding a painting by the celebrated Australian impressionist Rupert Bunny. The work has sometimes been referred to as ‘Female Reading in Sun”. The case, Levy v. Watt [2014] VSCA 60, which came down on 14 May 2014, involved an analysis of […]

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: Recovery of Persian Achaemenid Bas Relief Panel

Posted on: February 26, 2014 by Nina M. Neuhaus

The Police have recovered one of two items stolen from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) in the autumn of 2011.  The recovered item is a limestone Persian Achaemenid Bas Relief panel dating from the 5th century BC and depicting the head of a guard. Remarkably, the thief was able to steal the small-scale (21 […]