Posted on: July 24, 2023 by Paul Stevenson
Media reports in recent weeks have reminded us of a fascinating case study on contested heritage rights, shipwrecks and salvage. Vaunting a proposal to smelt down a bronze eagle which formerly adorned a Nazi warship, the President of Uruguay has found himself in the middle of a cultural heritage storm, having opined that: “It occurred […]
Posted on: July 17, 2023 by Stephanie Drawdy
In the last several years, the U.S. Army has been raising up a generation of modern-day “scholar warriors” to follow in the pioneering steps of WWII-era Monuments Officers. These warriors are Army Reserve Civil Affairs Soldiers who, like their predecessors, have a range of specialties that they can utilise to advance the mission of defending cultural […]
Posted on: June 26, 2023 by Tom Lewis
On 12 June 2023 two environmental protesters were convicted by a Vatican court of aggravated damage to the Laocoön statue, one of the most precious treasures of the Vatican Museums’ collection, believed to have been carved in Rhodes around 40-30 BCE. The protestors, Guido Viero and Ester Goffi, are members of the group Last Generation […]
Posted on: April 24, 2023 by Chiara Gallo
The ‘Art Collection’ series of jigsaw puzzles by Ravensburger is an ever popular pastime and features many of the world’s most renowned masterpieces, from the likes of Haring and Klimt to Botticelli and Leonardo Da Vinci. In fact, Ravensburger’s recent reproduction of Da Vinci’s Uomo Vitruviano as one of its jigsaws has sparked a legal […]
Posted on: April 3, 2023 by Alexander Herman
An incredible piece of news dropped on the rather inauspicious time of Friday afternoon. This was the announcement of a plan by the National Portrait Gallery in London (NPG) and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to jointly acquire the famous ‘Portrait of Omai’ by Joshua Reynolds (left), a work that has been export deferred […]
Posted on: February 15, 2023 by Stephanie Drawdy
What connection exists between the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Benin Bronzes? This is the query that now entangles the seemingly straightforward return of Benin Bronzes to their original home of modern-day Edo State in southern Nigeria. The person raising this compelling point, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, filed a class action suit and moved for emergency action in late […]
Posted on: December 19, 2022 by Alexander Herman
2022 was a year of great change, both in the world at large and for art law in particular. We saw the end of most of the worst effects of the covid pandemic, accompanied by what appears to be a final farewell to the era of lockdowns. We saw war in Europe for the first […]
Posted on: December 2, 2022 by Chiara Gallo
In recent weeks, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus appeared on the headlines of some of the most important news outlets, due to the allegedly ‘unauthorised’ commercial use of the famous masterpiece. The fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier is facing a suit for damages that could exceed £88,000 (€100,000) brought by the Uffizi, the oldest Florentine museum, […]
Posted on: March 3, 2022 by Alexander Herman
It has been alarming to witness the invasion by Russian troops of Ukrainian territory over the last seven days. Distressing images of the bombardment of cities, communities under siege and refugees pouring into neighbouring countries have proliferated online. The primary focus of the international community has understandably been on the protection of human life and […]
Posted on: February 17, 2022 by Alexander Herman
It’s rare that an international court confronts cultural heritage issues. But that’s just what happened two months ago. On 7 December, an important Order came down from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that included consideration of, amongst other matters, the importance of tangible cultural heritage to minority populations in times of […]