Looted art

Newsarchive

Ukraine suffered “colossal” looting during World War II

New research challenges Russians’ claim that they own many cultural valuables from the independent state

Minneapolis hands Léger to collector’s family

The painting was stolen from its Jewish owner during the Nazi occupation of France

Lehman gift of Benin treasures to Museum of Fine Arts angers Nigeria

Works looted by the British and reassembled by banking heir find permanent home in Boston

US collector returns artefacts to Greece

Shelby White returns two two fourth century BC objects

Iraqarchive

5 years after the Baghdad Museum's looting, a little optimism is finally appropriate: Interview with the British Museum's John Curtis

The situation at the Baghdad Museum remains bleak but thieves are less of a problem at archaeological sites

Art marketarchive

Insurance for war loot claims on the rise

Increasing numbers of private collectors, dealers, museums, and banks have been buying policies to protect their assets

Lawsuitsarchive

Dodgy dealers, curators and collectors named in the Marion True trial in Rome

The latest in the trial of former Getty antiquities curator, Marion True, and the Paris-based dealer Robert Hech both charged with conspiring to receive illegally excavated antiquities

UCL damned over handling of looted Aramaic antiquities

A report which concluded that ancient bowls on loan from a Norwegian collector “must have been illegally excavated in Iraq” has not been made public

US collector Brooke Allen returns relics sacred to Kenyan tribe

The works were part of an estate the collector inherited from her parents

Looted artarchive

The German museum paintings secretly sold by the British government in 1946

Nearly 80 pictures, including works by Cranach and Kauffmann, were seized from the German embassy in London

Iran loses case against Barakat Gallery ordering return of artefacts seemingly taken from Jiroft

UK courts ruled that Iran presented insufficient evidence to warrant the antiquities' reacquisition

Lawsuitsarchive

Norwegian collector to sue British university for return of his antiquities

But scholars say they are likely to have been looted from Iraq

Germans call for return of paintings in the National Maritime Museum seized by British troops

The London museum has turned down two previous requests for restitution

Unescoarchive

“Catalogue of the National Museum of Afghanistan”: recording and illustrating key objects in the Kabul Museum

Unesco has published a record of the 1,600 objects acquired by the institution between 1931 and 1985

Looted artarchive

The US Army’s hidden collection of Nazi art

Around 450 paintings made by artists working for the Third Reich are now in Washington, DC. They are unlikely to be returned to Germany

Looted artarchive

Revealed: six paintings in Maritime Museum were seized by British troops from Nazi Germany

Last month we reported that a Nazi picture in the London gallery was taken by British soldiers at the end of World War II. We have now discovered that other works of art were also removed

Newsarchive

Growing evidence that Göring seized National Gallery’s Cranach from its pre-war owner

We uncover the remarkable story of how a US war reporter governed Hitler’s mountain retreat for a day and took control of Reichsmarschall Göring’s collection of stolen art

Unescoarchive

Getty revises its guidelines for acquiring antiquities—again

Artefacts must have left their countries of origin by 1970, the year of the Unesco Convention, or have proper export documentation to be considered for purchase

Looted artarchive

Revealed: National Gallery’s Cranach is war loot

The painting was taken from Germany at the end of World War II

Iraqarchive

Statue of King Entemena looted from Baghdad's National Museum recovered in New York

Following its disappearance in 2003 and an international sting, the Sumerian statue was retrieved

Metropolitan to return antiquities to Italy

20 items that were looted or likely stolen are to be restituted

Art theftarchive

US colonel to lead antiquities anti-theft unit

Bogdanos attacks “cozy cabal of academics, dealers and collectors” who ignore provenance

Nazi lootarchive

$6.5 million settlement to heir for stolen Picasso

Chicago collector agrees to pay claimant to gain title to the work

Iranarchive

Iran takes out injunction to block Christie's sale of Palace of Xerxes relief fragment

Iran argues that the artefact was acquired through criminal means, although their failure to speak out when the fragment went to auction previously may undermine their case

Studying unprovenanced antiquities: The question of Schøyen's incantation bowls

University College London has set up an inquiry to examine the origin of “looted” bowls on loan from a Norwegian collector

Unescoarchive

Switzerland to implement 1970 UNESCO Convention legislation on 1st June

Switzerland’s is known for its pivotal presence in the underground network that moves illicitly excavated artefacts from country to country

Nazi Loot Picasso case can proceed in California

Marilynn Alsdorf had hoped the case would be thrown out of court

Provenancearchive

Norton Museum’s war loot research grant

A grant will enable them to probe incomplete provenance records