Posted on: December 17, 2024 by Andrea Martín Alacid
The ‘Bernini Judgment’, issued by Barcelona’s First Instance Court No. 42 on 20 May 2024, sets a significant precedent in the protection of Spain’s national heritage. It enables the recovery of a key piece from the Royal Collections through an action for recovery of ownership, supported by comprehensive technical reports. In this case, Patrimonio Nacional, […]
Posted on: August 14, 2024 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
The latest issue of our quarterly journal, Art Antiquity and Law, has now gone to press and hard copies should be in the post soon to subscribers. Digital subscribers will be able to access it via Hein even earlier. This issue contains several articles relating to the collections of art and artefacts contained in the […]
Posted on: May 28, 2024 by Andrea Martín Alacid
It was not until the end of the nineteenth century that Spain’s interest in its heritage began to awaken. A heritage that was ageing, reviled and unknown by many. Spain’s drive to protect its heritage at the beginning of the twentieth century resulted in extensive legislation on the safeguarding of historical heritage. Nevertheless, the regulatory […]
Posted on: January 17, 2024 by Nicholas M. O'Donnell
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on 9 January, 2024 that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (TBC) Foundation in Madrid is the owner of Rue Saint–Honoré, après-midi, effet de pluie by Camille Pissarro, a painting sold by German Jew Lilly Cassirer under Nazi duress. After the Cassirer family prevailed in the Supreme Court in […]
Posted on: October 26, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy
The Cassirer heirs recently received another negative ruling in their lawsuit to recover a Nazi-looted painting by French Impressionist Camille Pissarro, but this case has not yet ended. The heirs indicated their intent to request a rehearing of the Ninth Circuit’s holding that, under Spanish law, title to the Pissarro is rightly held by the […]
Posted on: August 4, 2020 by Manuel Valdecantos Saavedra
An intriguing case involving underwater cultural heritage was brought to light by the Spanish media towards the end of July. In the city of Alicante, a father and son, owners of a frozen seafood shop, were found to be in possession of 13 Roman amphoras, possibly dating from the 1st Century AD, together with an […]
Posted on: April 21, 2020 by Charlotte Dunn
As discussed in two previous IAL blog posts (here and here), the current outbreak of Coronavirus has had a substantial impact on the art world. One of the more positive sides to the story is how the present restrictions in movement have encouraged museums and galleries to scale up their presence online, giving individuals the […]
Posted on: February 25, 2020 by Paul Stevenson
Media reports this month claim that almost four centuries after the ill-fated galleon Nuestra Señora del Juncal (“the Juncal”), a Spanish naval vessel, sank off the Mexican coast in a storm in October 1631, researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and Spain’s National Museum of Underwater Archaeology are to undertake a 10-day […]
Posted on: January 16, 2020 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes
As we leave behind the festive season, the latest issue of Art Antiquity & Law has just been released in time for you to start the new year with the latest in-depth analyses from the world of art and cultural heritage law. Adam Jomeen writes about street photography and compares the legal treatments afforded to […]
Posted on: December 24, 2019 by Stephanie Drawdy
A buyer who purchases stolen property does not receive good title – depending on the jurisdiction. The Cassirer family has learned this lesson all too well after nearly two decades attempting to reclaim a Nazi-looted painting by Impressionist Master Camille Pissarro. Earlier this year, a U.S. federal court in California awarded the Pissarro to a […]