Posted on: June 17, 2024 by Tom Lewis
On 15 May 2024 the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) rejected an appeal against the 2022 decision of Hobart City Council to remove a controversial statue (erected in 1889) of the colony’s one-time premier, William Crowther (d. 1885). Crowther, a medical doctor, is and, in his own day, was a controversial figure. He was […]
Posted on: June 3, 2024 by Shweta Sai Sakthivel
Objects in themselves carry no value. But when an object is viewed in the context of its history, culture and belief, it is not an object anymore. The ‘Idol’ of Lord Nataraja (Dancing God Shiva) that returned to Kallidaikurichi village in India is not an object but a once-lost god. For those who smuggled 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: May 21, 2024 by Alexander Herman
The ‘Getty Bronze’ is in the news again. As though cursed, the ancient sculpture of the victorious youth has been contentious for years now, beginning not long after it was discovered by Italian fishermen in 1964. The statue was purchased by the Getty Trust in 1977 and put on display in Malibu the following year, […]
Posted on: May 8, 2024 by Lilian Palmer
In March, the Spoliation Advisory Panel published its latest Report, concerning three claims made in regards to three paintings attributed to Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. The paintings, owned by the Samuel Courtauld Trust and in the possession of the Courtauld Institute of Art, are: St Gregory the Great with Ss Maurus and Papianus and […]
Posted on: April 22, 2024 by Victoria Maatta
This article contains descriptions of violence which some readers may find upsetting. In March of this year, the infamous statue of transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston went on permanent display in an exhibition about the history of protest in the Bristol People gallery at M Shed. The display follows a decision by the Bristol City […]
Posted on: April 15, 2024 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
The April issue of 2024 Art Antiquity and Law has gone to press: hard copies will be posted out to subscribers next week, and for digital subscribers, the online version should be available via Hein very soon. This issue contains an article by Achilleas Iasonos (Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Earth and Ocean Lab, Department of […]
Posted on: April 2, 2024 by Siyi Wu
In the captivating world of art restitution and repatriation, each artefact whispers tales of ancient times and distant lands, waiting to be heard. Among these, the story of the recently repatriated Feng Xingshu Gui (丰刑叔簋) stands out – a narrative not just of rediscovery but of bridging cultures and epochs. My tenure at the Art […]
Posted on: March 25, 2024 by Charlotte Woodhead
The “legislative prison walls” of the British Museum Act In 2022, the then UK Prime Minister (the antepenultimate Prime Minister of recent times) responded to calls for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece by saying that it is for the trustees to decide. However, even if the trustees considered it appropriate to return […]
Posted on: March 20, 2024 by Matthias Weller
On Wednesday last week, 13 March 2024, the German Federal Government, the Governments of the Laender and the Representatives of the German Municipalities announced that they had agreed on replacing the German ‘Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property’: see here and here (at […]