Posted on: January 14, 2016 by Emily Gould
Next month (February 2016) the new theft guidelines announced by the Sentencing Council last October will come into force. For the first time, the significant harm which can result from crimes like theft of public artworks, stripping of lead from historic churches and the activities of ‘nighthawkers’ is being officially recognized within the English criminal […]
Posted on: January 12, 2016 by Alexander Herman
As of last month, the UK has brought into force the necessary regulations to implement the 2014/60 EU Directive on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State. In fact, the deadline for all EU Member States to bring about this change in their national law was 18 December 2015. […]
Posted on: December 4, 2015 by Alexander Herman
On Wednesday, the Center for Art Law hosted an event at the Ongpin Fine Art Gallery in London to celebrate the launch of Evelien Campfens’s new book on the subject of Holocaust-era art restitution committees entitled Fair and Just Solutions? Alternatives to litigation in Nazi-looted art disputes: status quo and new developments. Campfens, who is the […]
Posted on: December 1, 2015 by Alexander Herman
There was a very interesting talk last night on cultural heritage and international law delivered by Roger O’Keefe, professor of international law at University College London. Prof O’Keefe’s paper, presented as the Harry Weinrebe Annual Memorial Lecture at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), was entitled ‘The Protection of Cultural Property, the Maintenance of International Peace […]
Posted on: November 18, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Officially launched last month, the UK’s Emergency Heritage Management Project will look to help preserve and recover cultural objects and edifices in Iraq that are under threat. In the words of the press release: “It will create a team of local experts to assess, document and stabilise afflicted sites in Iraq, and help begin the process […]
Posted on: October 29, 2015 by Ruth Redmond-Cooper
We are happy to announce an upcoming one-day conference to be held in London on 28th November 2015 entitled Recent Developments in Art and Cultural Property Law (pdf flyer here). The conference will cover a number of new and exciting legal trends in the area involving: the new sentencing guidelines for heritage crimes the new Museums Association Code of […]
Posted on: October 28, 2015 by Alexander Herman
It has been reported by the BBC that the export application submitted by the new owner of a £35 million Rembrandt (covered here) has now been withdrawn. The work will therefore remain in the UK and will potentially be loaned by the owner to a museum or gallery in this country. One wonders if the next step […]
Posted on: October 19, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Rembrandt’s late career Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet is the subject of the UK Culture Minister’s latest export licence deferral. The painting, which had been in the collection of the Welsh aristocratic Douglas-Pennant family, was reported to have been sold earlier this year for £35 million. An export licence has been sought, but the Minister, based upon […]
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 […]
Posted on: October 12, 2015 by Alexander Herman
Goya’s Marquesa de Santa Cruz is back in London. Those with long memories will know that this painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya had been taken out of Spain in the mid 1980s and brought to auction at Christie’s in London, only to incur the ire of the Spanish government. The work had left Spain in 1983 accompanied by forged […]