Last week, we learned the National Gallery of Canada plans to sell a Marc Chagall painting from its collection to fund another acquisition. Now it seems another museum is clearing house in a bid to raise US$55 million (£39.2 million) to enable it to undertake major renovation works. Continue reading
Museums and cultural heritage institutions actively acquire art but can they sell it just as easily? The National Gallery of Canada has sparked a debate over this very question with the announcement that it will be selling a painting by Marc Chagall at auction on 15 May 2018. Continue reading
A Manhattan judge has awarded heirs of a Holocaust victim two looted artworks, citing the 2016 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act. Continue reading
In this third instalment of our special blog series, we continue to follow art historian and provenance researcher, Silvia Davoli’s quest to find the lost treasures of Strawberry Hill House. Formerly the home of Horace Walpole in the 18th century, Strawberry Hill House was emptied of Walpole’s celebrated art collection when it was scattered 200 years ago. Silvia is now sifting through archives and searching museums in every corner of the globe to uncover the lost treasures in a bid to restore them to Strawberry Hill. Can you help her in her quest?
When we last left Silvia, she was on the hunt for the lost dagger of King Henry VIII. We rejoin her now in her quest to find another lost treasure of Strawberry Hill House a painted portrait which inspired a gothic ghost story. Continue reading
The latest sculpture to grace the empty Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square has been unveiled today (28 March 2018). Continue reading
The prosecution of Israeli art dealer and collector Itzhak Zarug and his business partner Moez Ben Hazaz for masterminding a forgery ring has faltered after testimonies from expert witnesses were unable to prove that the works in question were fake. Continue reading
A London art dealer has been indicted by the FBI following claims of money laundering.
The charges allege that Matthew Green, 50, owner of Mayfair Fine Art Limited, told an undercover federal agent that he could purchase a painting from him “using the proceeds of the stock manipulation deals and later sell the painting to ‘clean the money’ ”. Continue reading
In what Court of Appeal judges called an exceptional divorce case, a Russian oligarch’s solicitor has been ordered to give evidence regarding the location of his client’s assets, including a £90 million art collection.
In this second instalment of our special blog series, we continue to follow art historian and provenance researcher, Silvia Davoli’s quest to find the lost treasures of Strawberry Hill House. Formerly the home of Horace Walpole in the 18th century, Strawberry Hill House was emptied of Walpole’s celebrated art collection when it was scattered 200 years ago. Silvia is now sifting through archives and searching museums in every corner of the globe to uncover the lost treasures in a bid to restore them to Strawberry Hill. Can you help her in her quest?
Charles Kean turns the dagger over and over in his hands, rubies burn red like flames lapping at the handle. Visions of its former owner, Henry VIII leap into his imagination, the great mountain of a king cutting a monumental figure in ermine and gold brocade, bejewelled fist clasping a dagger as in the portrait after Hans Holbein the Younger. Continue reading
When customs officials opened the luggage compartment of a bus on a highway just outside Paris they never expected to find a stolen masterpiece on board. Continue reading
