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: 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 […]
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 […]
Posted on: January 14, 2024 by Matthias Weller
A number of events and presentations marked the 25th anniversary of the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art. Among these were “Marking 25 Years of the Washington Principles – Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art“ at the Leo Baeck Institute for the Study of German-Jewish History and Culture at New York on 3 December 2023, but also, for […]
Posted on: January 4, 2024 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
Hard copies of the final issue of 2023 Art Antiquity and Law should be arriving with subscribers very soon – online subscribers should be able to access it shortly. In this issue we have an analysis of ‘Resale Restrictions in the Contemporary Art Market’: Aaron Taylor (Barrister, Fountain Court Chambers; Visiting Research Fellow, Goldsmiths, University […]
Posted on: November 13, 2023 by Adrienne Bauer
The Paris Bar in Berlin’s Kantstraße is a traditional meeting place for the arts and culture scene of the German capital and a true institution. Three paintings depicting this very bar have now become the subject of an interesting copyright decision by the Munich Regional Court. Specifically, it concerns the works “Paris Bar (Version 1-3)” […]
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: August 4, 2022 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
The second issue of 2022 from Art Antiquity and Law has now gone to press and hard copy will be sent out to subscribers next week. This issue covers a range of topics: Emily Gould, Assistant Director of the Institute of Art and Law, provides a detailed examination of the law relating to NFTs. These […]
Posted on: July 5, 2022 by Alexander Herman
At the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on Friday, a joint declaration on the return of the Benin Bronzes was signed by Germany’s Foreign Minister and Commissioner for Culture and Media, and by Nigeria’s Minister of Culture and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. By all accounts, it was an emotional occasion. ‘Today we have […]
Posted on: August 21, 2020 by Stephanie Drawdy
A collection of ecclesiastical art known as the Guelph Treasure (Welfenschatz) is at the center of a U.S. restitution claim brought by heirs of Holocaust victims who sold it during the Nazi reign, previously discussed here. Having held the highly valued collection for approximately six decades, Germany is unwilling to part with what it considers […]