Restitution

Lootingcomment

The case for a cross-border approach for recovering Europe's Nazi-looted art

If governments are committed to the Washington Principles, they should create a co-ordinating body

Maqdala shield to be repatriated to Ethiopia

Withdrawn from auction in February, the shield will make a stop at the Toledo Museum of Art before going on public display at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa

Netherlands to return 288 items looted in colonial era to Indonesia

The repatriations show policy continuity despite the new right-wing government, experts say

New California law could reverse outcome in dispute over Nazi-looted Pissarro

The new law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom is intended to resolve a decades-long restitution claim in a California family’s favour

Three looted objects from ancient Egyptian graves returned by the Netherlands

The restitutions are seen as reflective of the way museums are paying closer attention to the provenance of works in their collections

Holocaust-restitution firm Mondex settles legal feud with heir over fees for $24m Chagall painting

"Over Vitebsk" by Marc Chagall hung at the Museum of Modern Art for decades until 2020, when it was restituted to the the heirs of a Jewish-owned art gallery in 1930s Berlin

Cranach portrait will be sold in accord between Pennsylvania museum and Jewish heirs

The portrait of the Duke of Saxony, attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop, will be auctioned by Christie’s in New York in January 2025

Jala Wahid confronts the colonial legacy of the British Museum in London exhibition

The Kurdish artist delves into the histories of looted artefacts and questions the ethics of their existence in Western museums

Leaderscomment

The US needs an independent commission for Nazi loot claims

‘If an artwork is located in the US, its fate cannot be decided in any other state, and any wrong decisions cannot be corrected elsewhere’

Another Schiele work returned to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum

The 1918 drawing had been in the possession of another Austrian Jewish family, which recently became suspicious of the work's provenance and contacted Grünbaum’s heirs directly in order to “do the right thing”

Famed Egyptian archaeologist pledges to ‘join together’ with Italy to secure return of Mona Lisa

The former antiquities minister is also demanding that three Egyptian treasures, including the Rosetta Stone, be sent to his home country

Iowa museum becomes first in US to return looted Benin bronzes to royal ruler

The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art has defended its decision to hand back two objects to the Oba rather than the government

Looted Asante treasures find a new palace home in Ghana

Objects from the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum are on loan to the Asante king, while the Fowler Museum has transferred ownership of seven items

‘Like a child in a messy divorce’: Mary Beard and David Olusoga tackle Parthenon Marbles debate in British Museum panel

Complexities of restitution, the relevance of the universal museum and burgeoning collections were all on the event's agenda

Jordaens painting to be sold after settlement with heirs of Jewish bank shareholders

The work, to be auctioned at Sotheby’s today, was one of more than 2,500 held as collateral and sold, shortly before the Nazi invasion, by the Dutch bank Lisser & Rosenkranz

Bührle Foundation’s provenance research is inadequate, report finds

The report by Raphael Gross calls for more research and details how Jewish owners are omitted from the published provenance

Stedelijk Museum restitutes Matisse Odalisque to Jewish arts patrons’ heirs

Albert Stern, the former owner, sold the painting “out of necessity” in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, the Dutch Restitutions Committee says

Rubens sketch illegally sold in aftermath of Second World War returned to museum in Germany

The oil sketch “Saint Gregory of Nazianzus” (1621) is one of five works by the Old Master that were unlawfully taken from the Friedenstein Foundation, with two still missing

Judge dismisses Holocaust restitution claim to Guggenheim’s Blue Period Picasso

Karl and Rosi Adler’s heirs had claimed that “La repasseuse” (1904) had been sold under duress as the couple fled Nazi persecution

Monet to go on sale after Kunsthaus Zurich reaches settlement with Jewish heirs

The collector and textiles entrepreneur Carl Sachs sold the painting after fleeing to Switzerland from Nazi Germany in 1939

Art Institute of Chicago to return 12th-century temple artefact to Thailand

The Krishna palister once stood along the doorframe of the most important monument to the Khmer dynasty in Thailand

After meeting with Pope Francis, Canada’s Justin Trudeau reiterates call for return of Indigenous artefacts from Vatican Museums

Last spring Pope Francis said “this is going on, with Canada”, but since there has been little movement on repatriation

Swiss Bührle Foundation seeks to settle with Jewish heirs on major Impressionist works

Paintings by Courbet, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Gauguin are to be removed from display at Zurich’s Kunsthaus

Germany returns looted antiquities in Berlin’s Altes Museum to Italy

As a “thank you” gesture, Italy is reciprocating with loans from Paestum and Naples

US judge rejects Nazi-loot claim to Van Gogh Sunflowers painting owned by Japanese company

After almost two years, the case has been dismissed due to a lack of jurisdiction, so the work will remain at the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo

Berlin’s Brücke Museum settles with the heirs of a Jewish collector on Kirchner painting

The work, showing two of Kirchner’s fellow artists playing chess, was sold under duress by the Berlin dealer Victor Wallerstein after he fled to Italy from Nazi Germany

MFA Houston can keep Bernardo Bellotto painting sold to the Nazis, appeals court rules

The lawsuit stems from the accidental restitution of the wrong painting in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War

Cleveland Museum of Art will return ancient statue to Libya

The two-foot-tall artefact, which hails from Ancient Egypt's Ptolemaic Dynasty, will remain on view in Cleveland for "a few years"

Stolen, century-old train-shaped weathervane returned to authorities in Vermont

The 114-year-old iron sculpture of a steam locomotive was stolen from the roof of a train station in 1983

Dispute over a potentially Nazi-looted Egon Schiele goes to trial in New York

Heirs of multiple Holocaust victims have made claims to the drawing, which a member of the Lehman Brothers banking dynasty bought as a gift for his son