A well-known New York based art advisor, Lisa Schiff, has had a complaint filed against her by two former clients and friends, accusing her of owing them each $900,000 and of running a Ponzi scheme.
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KAWS awarded $900,000 in counterfeit lawsuit
American artist and designer Bryan Donnelly, known as KAWS, has won close to $1 million in damages after he filed a lawsuit against Dylan Joy An Leong Yi Zhi, a Singaporean who has been creating knockoffs of his signature works of art.
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New Tourism campaign criticised for recasting Botticelli’s Venus as ‘virtual influencer’
A new Italian tourism campaign is facing widespread outrage for featuring Sandro Botticelli’s (1445-1510) iconic Venus as an ‘influencer’. The official website and video designed by the Armando Testa communications group has been described as “humiliating” and “grotesque”.
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Ancient Roman bust bought for $35 in Texas restituted to Germany
An ancient Roman bust which was purchased at a Goodwill store in Austin, Texas, five years ago for $35 is heading back to Pompejanum, a Pompeii-style villa in Aschaffenburg, Germany. The bust vanished from Pompejanum during the Second World War.
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New Shakespeare museum to open above long-lost Elizabethan theatre
Next year the long-awaited Museum of Shakespeare will open in London on the site of a lost theatre that the legendary playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) knew intimately. “This will be Shakespeare as you have never experienced it before,” said Harry Parr, co-founder of the project.
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Two men guilty of trying to sell historically significant Anglo-Saxon coins
Two men were found guilty of an illegal scheme to sell £766,000 worth of Anglo-Saxon coins which, as it turns out, have huge significance for our understanding of the history of the 9th century. Craig Best and Roger Piling were found guilty of possession of criminal property and conspiracy to convert criminal property by Durham Crown Court.
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Californian auctioneer pleads guilty to forging up to 30 Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings
A Californian auctioneer has admitted to his involvement in forging up to 30 Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) paintings after initially denying all charges. The FBI’s art crime investigators exposed the fraud last year after suspicions were raised during a special exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art.
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Scientists discover long-lost Medieval Bible translation using UV light
Nearly 1,500 years after it was first written, a “hidden chapter” of a Christian Bible at the Vatican Library has been rediscovered by scientists. The never-before-seen translation was concealed under three layers of text and only became visible after using ultraviolet imaging.
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Enthralled by art? Careful not to fall in
A 26-year-old Canadian man has been charged with one count of mischief after falling into the Talus Dome, a monumental public sculpture in Edmonton, Canada. Rescue teams spent an hour and a half trying to free the man from the sculpture.
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Plans for a high-speed train between Pompeii and Rome to bolster tourism
Italy’s culture minister has announced plans for a new high-speed train linking the country’s capital to the archaeological site of Pompeii in an attempt to increase tourism to the UNESCO World Heritage Site which is located 14 miles southeast of Naples. The project is costing €35 million and will include the construction of a new train station next to the archaeological site, allowing visitors to reach the site easily from Rome and Rome’s Fiumicino Airport.
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