We look back at the major events that made the headlines this year

Zahi Hawass, former Egyptian minister of antiquities, corrals international team of experts to press institutions for return of important artefacts

Why stories—from the mutilated ear to the eventual suicide—can distort our view of the art

Te Bourao II, which went to an international collector, was on loan to the Met in New York for ten years

As the election looms this month and Nicky Morgan announces she is standing down, the department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport prepares for its latest secretary of state

New exhibition highlights works from the museum's Gilbert Collection that have unclear provenance during the Nazi era

Revelations were made during research for the largest retrospective of the Dutch painter's work in the Netherlands

The still life in Switzerland’s Reinhart collection was dismissed as a forgery

Statue of a cockerel was looted by the British in 1897 from the Court of Benin

Although Tory announcement calls it the “largest cultural capital programme in a century”, pledge is only quarter of Labour’s £1bn culture fund

Masterpiece from London's National Gallery is headed for Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia

In Tahiti, years later, Gauguin recalled the flower which stinks of rotting flesh

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats commit to stopping Brexit and protecting arts funding through the National Lottery

Frankfurt's Städel Museum put a detective journalist on the case

Work acquired by Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Drents Museum in Assen is one of few to survive from the artist's visit to Drenthe

The 17th-century painting The Finding of Moses was painted in London for Charles I and represented the birth of Charles II

One of the works was looted by the Nazis from Jewish collector Jacques Goudstikker, but is now being sold by his heir after restitution

The British cultural historian will take up his role at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new branch in the spring

The artist befriended the child of his neighbours, and had given two paintings for the boy’s nursery

Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh, which opened in London this weekend, will also tour to Australia, Japan, Canada and South Korea

After the Frankfurt show opens, another on still lifes comes to Potsdam—17 years after Germany’s last presentation on the artist

The arts and performance venue has refused to accept a £1m grant from the Sackler Trust because of risk it would "distract from its work with young people"

Peak adult tickets for the travelling exhibition opening at the Saatchi Gallery in London this week will cost £37.40

Museum has avoided transporting loans to and from Europe around 31 October “deadline”, but the last-minute extension to next January may cause shipping issues

Städel Museum tells the story of Germany's love affair with the painter, which ended in tragedy with Hitler’s rise to power

A decade after the publication of Vincent's trove of correspondence, here is how the remarkable project has contributed to scholarship on his art

The current director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague is taking over from Axel Rüger who now leads the Royal Academy of Arts in London

Italy's culture minister Dario Franceschini says the find shows the site is an "inexhaustible mine for archaeological research"

Detroit’s Van Gogh in America will be the highlight, with more major shows in Amsterdam, Padua, Santa Barbara and Columbus