New legislation for artworks with Nazi-looted provenance in New York institutions

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced last week that she had signed new legislation introduced by Senator Anna Kaplan and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic to ensure younger generations have a greater awareness of the events of the Holocaust. One element of this legislation specifies that museums in New York must “prominently” display a placard on some other type of signage indicating when a work of art was stolen by the Nazis.

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A ‘ghostly’ new Van Gogh self-portrait has appeared at the National Galleries of Scotland

The preparations for an upcoming exhibition organised by the National Galleries of Scotland and scheduled to open on 30th July has prompted a new discovery. A Taste for Impressionism: Modern French Art from Millet to Matisse promises to tell “the remarkable story of how Scotland became home to one of the world’s greatest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art”, but before it has even opened it has attracted media attention, as new research on Vincent Van Gogh’s Head of a Peasant Woman (1884) in the museum’s permanent collection, has led to the discovery of a new self-portrait by the artist.

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Italian authorities halt illegal sale of Gentileschi masterpiece

Italian police have thwarted the fraudulent sale in Austria of a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656). A specialised task force, known as the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, discovered the fraud by searching through auction catalogues and online offerings. As a genuine work by the most celebrated female artist of the Baroque period, the painting is valued at a staggering €2 million (£1.7 million).

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