Restitution

India asks Ashmolean Museum to return 15th-century bronze idol believed stolen from temple

Independent scholar uncovers questionable provenance for the sculpture that the Oxford institution bought from Sotheby's in 1967

Lootnews

Looted ancient temple sculpture—seized by UK police—will go home to Afghanistan

British Museum and Art Loss Register collaborate over recovery of ancient bull decoration that was consigned to an online auction

German court rules in favour of Nazi-looted art database, although owners say a listing makes works unsellable

Lostart.de is caught between the conflicting demands of claimants and the holders of disputed art

Three Nazi-looted works bought by Gurlitt return to Jewish collector’s heirs

Two paintings by Jean-Louis Forain were discovered in Cornelius Gurlitt’s trove; the third work, by Constantin Guys, was restituted by another family member

Berlin restitutes painting to heirs of 'degenerate' artist for the first time

A portrayal of Lot by Hans Baldung Grien was sold to the Gemäldegalerie in 1937 by Hans Purrmann

Arts Council England asks for help in returning looted artefacts held in UK museums

Tender opened for guidance around repatriation questions for items including those acquired from former colonies

Sotheby’s to auction three Nazi-looted works restituted to Jewish collector’s heirs

Two paintings by Signac and one by Pissarro are expected to fetch as much as £20m

New evidence cited in restitution claim for Panama Papers Modigliani

Dealer Oscar Stettiner’s grandson says painting, now owned by David Nahmad, was looted by Nazis

Angola freezes assets of billionaire and her art collector husband

Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, is married to Sindika Dokolo who has been working for years on repatriating works to the African continent

How a Nazi-looted painting entered an Israeli museum

Tel Aviv Museum of Art reveals surprising provenance of 19th-century work by Jozef Israëls, which will be restituted to Jewish owner’s heirs in October

France promises to return 26 looted Benin artefacts by 2021 and opens talks on 'wider set of works'

But restitution depends on the adoption of a law covering these specific items, while Benin secures a location to house them

Archaeologist launches private bid to retrieve priceless Egyptian treasures from European museums

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

Germany returns indigenous remains of 45 ancestors to Australia in 'long overdue step'

Saxon government acknowledges “years of disregard for their dignity and importance to their communities of origin”

Cambridge college returns Benin bronze to Nigeria

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

German museum acquires Heinrich Campendonk painting after restitution to Jewish collector’s heir

Work once belonged to the shoe manufacturer Alfred Hess, whose family was forced to flee Nazi Germany

Dr Oetker returns painting to heirs of Jewish tobacco dealer murdered by the Nazis

Leo Bendel was killed at Buchenwald three years after he sold the painting by Carl Spitzweg to fund his escape from Nazi Germany

France returns a historic sword to Senegal

The gesture is intended as a symbol of France’s commitment to repatriating African heritage

George Soros's Open Society Foundations pledges $15m to help Africa recover looted heritage

Paid over four years, it will support efforts made by museums, grassroots-organisations and governments

One year after the Sarr-Savoy report, France has lost its momentum in the restitution debate

The report made international headlines, recommending the restitution of African artefacts in French museums, but the country has not returned a single item to Africa

Bern museum sells $4m Manet painting from Gurlitt art hoard

National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo agrees to buy the painting, Ships at Sea in Stormy Weather

Lawnews

Who really owns this Schiele watercolour Portrait of the Artist's Wife?

A three-way battle is brewing in New York courts as the heirs of two Holocaust victims take on the work’s current owner

FBI recovers painting suspected as Nazi loot from US museum

Gari Melchers's painting of a winter landscape, which was in the Arkell Museum in the state of New York, belonged to the media mogul Rudolf Mosse

Namibian artefacts travel home in Berlin museum research project

But return of the objects permanently to Namibia is not the immediate goal, says Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation

Icom Kyoto 2019 conference: key takeaways from the decolonisation and restitution panel

Discussion argued for community empowerment, new skillsets, and focus on contemporary colonialism

Trump opens door to restitution claims on art seized by Cuba

While the president is the first to allow Title III of Helms-Burton Act to be used, some whose collections were taken doubt it will have an impact

Loansnews

Greece in talks with Louvre to borrow Parthenon frieze as part of 'temporary exchange'

Move reignites debate over British Museum’s position on sculptures brought to Britain by Lord Elgin

German Nazi loot panel divided on Max Stern painting—but returns it to his heirs anyway

For first time, advisory team stipulates that work must not be sold for ten years in case evidence emerges that contradicts its ruling

Growing pressure on the British Museum as Jamaica is latest government seeking return of objects

Spokeswoman for the London museum says it has not been officially approached by the country over the return of the two objects made by the Taíno people in its collection

Lawcomment

Why this Cézanne painting could hold the key to solving thorny heritage disputes

Pioneering agreement to share contested work from Gurlitt trove provides a roadmap for similar legal cases