Two leather-bound notebooks written by the naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) have mysteriously reappeared at the University of Cambridge, twenty-two years after they went missing. The notebooks are now worth many millions of pounds.
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In 1979, five paintings were stolen from Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha, Germany. The works did not re-emerge for 40 years, and the event became communist East Germany’s biggest ever art heist. In 2019, however, the paintings were returned to Friedenstein, and new scientific analysis and research indicates that one of the portraits, previously attributed to seventeenth-century artist Ferdinand Bol, might be a lost masterpiece by Rembrandt.
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Following a report from the Dutch Council of Culture, several major museums have pledged to repatriate looted artworks in an attempt to rectify historical wrongs. An estimated 100,000 artefacts stolen by colonialists could be subject to restitution.
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A solid gold toilet on display at Bleinheim Palace was stolen in the early hours of Saturday morning (14 September 2019).
The heirs to a stolen Joshua Reynolds oil painting are seeking its return after it turned up 35 years later in a Tokyo museum.
The descendants of a Nazi soldier are to return a €2 million (£1.8 million) painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Germany announced the result of the secret deal this week, which will see the painting handed back almost 75 years since it was looted. Continue reading
Missing for nearly 20 years, a stolen Pablo Picasso painting worth £21 million has been recently recovered by Arthur Brand, a Dutch art detective. Continue reading
It might have been one of only two artworks by Michelangelo in Belgium and now a 16th century painting has been snatched from St Ludgerus church in the small Flemish town of Zele. Continue reading
A stolen painting by Willem de Kooning made headlines on 11 August when it re-emerged after 30 years. Now it has been revealed that ‘Woman-Ochre’ was hanging in the bedroom of a couple’s home in New Mexico since it was burgled from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson in 1985. Continue reading
Hundreds of experts from across the globe will descend on London in September for an international conference on Nazi-looted art.
‘70 Years and Counting: The final opportunity?’ will be the first European conference dedicated to the issue of spoliation in five years. Organised by the UK Government and the Spoliation Advisory Panel and sponsored by the Commission for Looted Art in Europe the conference will aim to bolster efforts to return stolen artworks to their original owners. It will look at strengthening partnerships and increasing cooperation to speed up the process of restitution. Continue reading
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