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: 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: 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: January 8, 2024 by Paul Stevenson
Readers will doubtless recall fictional archaeologist explorer Indiana Jones’ quest to find the holy grail, a cup providing eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance and, by analogy, an elusive object or goal of great significance. Readers may also recall that some time ago on this blog (2018 indeed) I noted that UNESCO had weighed […]
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: 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: October 15, 2015 by Alexander Herman
As hinted at, there is another painting currently hanging at the Goya exhibition at the National Gallery with a story to tell. Unlike the Marquesa de Santa Cruz, this one relates to an episode involving theft, a botched ransom scheme and the adoption of new criminal legislation. It is a portrait painted by Francisco Goya over a two-year […]