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: November 11, 2024 by Livia Solaro
On 30 September, 2024, the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued the latest decision in the long running de Csepel restitution saga. After almost 15 years of litigation (or 25, if one considers the initial lawsuit filed in Hungary), the case has now been narrowed down to the recovery of one of […]
Posted on: November 4, 2024 by Paul Stevenson
This year I’ve written about the Colombian government’s planned recovery of artefacts from the wreck of the San José, hailed as “the most valuable shipwreck in the world”. As an international investor-state arbitration proceeds in the Hague, the wreck continues to make headlines. Reports earlier in the summer indicated that the first robotic exploration of […]
Posted on: October 28, 2024 by Federica Monteleone
What happens when an artist incorporates third-party material into their work? What precautions should artists, dealers, galleries or museums take when creating, managing or selling such works? The seminar, Deal or No Dealing: Copyright and Fair Dealing/Fair Use in the Visual Arts, jointly hosted by the Institute of Art and Law and Howard Kennedy LLP […]
Posted on: October 23, 2024 by Alexander Herman
In What have we here? the artist Hew Locke has taken a flashlight to the British Museum’s collection; he has also taken a chisel to its somewhat staid reputation. The artist now occupies the central exhibition space at the museum, just behind the newly reopened library with its grand Victorian dome. Locke had been given […]
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: July 29, 2024 by Lilian Palmer
On 27 May, the Netherlands Restitutions Committee examined an application for the restitution of a painting to the heirs of Albert Stern and his wife Marie. The painting, an oil on canvas titled Odalisque (1920 – 1921) by Henri Matisse, has been part of the Stedelijk Museum’s collection since 1941 and in the possession of […]
Posted on: July 8, 2024 by Lauren Gowler
Norval Morrisseau – also known by his Anishinaabe name “Copper Thunderbird” – left a lasting mark on contemporary Indigenous art in Canada with his vibrant and spiritually charged paintings. Active between the 1960s and 2000s, Norval Morrisseau achieved recognition through his distinctive Woodland-style art, exhibiting in galleries around the globe. However, amidst this remarkable legacy, […]
Posted on: July 1, 2024 by Paul Stevenson
Earlier this year, I noted reports that the Colombian government planned to seek to recover artefacts from the wreck of the San José, lost in 1708 with nearly 600 souls and now lying approximately 16 miles off the city of Cartagena. Further reports at the end of last month suggest that the Colombian government has […]
Posted on: June 24, 2024 by Chiara Gallo
Over a year and a half ago, the Italian Ministry of Culture (MiC) won the dispute brought in front of the Venice Civil Court concerning the Vitruvian Man. In that instance, the Italian court held that the Vitruvian Man, an artwork created by Leonardo da Vinci around 1490, belonged to Italian Cultural Heritage and, as […]