THE ARCHIVE BY COUNTRY
Published reports from our archive, newest first.
A country may refer to the theft, recovery, return or legal proceedings. A case can be linked to more than one country.
189 reports · Page 4 / 9
John Opie’s The Schoolmistress with its rightful owner, Francis Wood. FBI. Image source ↗
The FBI announced the return of The Schoolmistress to the Wood family on 11 January 2024 after a Utah court determined ownership. The painting was stolen from their Newark home in 1969. This announcement concerns restitution, not a new criminal conviction.
The copyright suits brought by photographers Donald Graham and Eric McNatt over Richard Prince’s New Portraits series ended in agreed judgments in federal court. The agreements resolved the cases without a trial ruling on fair use. Image shows Richard Prince, photographed by Will Ragozzino.
Four Nepalese antiquities returned, including two Bhairava masks — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Manhattan prosecutors announced a four-object return involving stolen Bhairava masks and a Durga figure. The release distinguishes several trafficking investigations and describes museum cooperation in recovering the objects.
Princeton University Art Museum’s conservation of The Death of Adonis removed discoloured varnish and later overpainting. The treatment brought the appearance of the 1639 painting closer to what Rubens had intended.
Documentary image: FBI. Image source ↗
The FBI handed over Johann Franz Nepomuk Lauterer’s Landscape of Italian Character in Chicago. The painting had been missing since 1939 and resurfaced in the United States.
Met signs return agreement for two further Nepalese sculptures — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
The Met and Nepal signed an agreement for a wooden temple strut and Vishnu flanked by Lakshmi and Garuda. The announcement states that transport was being arranged; it does not establish physical arrival.
Police recovered the bronze Buddha stolen from Barakat Gallery on 18 September. Valued at about $1.5 million, the roughly 250-pound Japanese sculpture dates to the Edo period. A man was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property and subsequently released with a court date. The report did not establish who stole it or announce a conviction.
Manhattan prosecutors returned seven Egon Schiele works, collectively valued at more than $9.5 million, to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum. The Austrian Jewish collector and cabaret performer was murdered at Dachau in 1941. The works came from US museum and private collections. This report concerns the seven works restituted at the September 2023 ceremony, not all works claimed by the family.
The collection included sculptures looted from religious and archaeological sites at Angkor Wat and Koh Ker. The family holding them agreed voluntarily to their return.
Following his plea, Michael Barzman received three years’ probation, 500 hours of community service and a fine. This updates the April 2023 proceedings.
Nicholas Hatch unloading artworks; court documents / The Art Newspaper Image source ↗
An estate-sales operator pleaded guilty to mail fraud after marketing paintings he knew were not by Peter Max with false authenticity claims. Sentencing was pending at publication.
Monumento 9 from Chalcatzingo, the returned Olmec relief. INAH. Image source ↗
Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History documented the return of Monumento 9 from Chalcatzingo, known as a portal to the underworld and the Earth Monster. The Olmec stone relief was handed over in Denver on 19 May 2023 and arrived in Mexico that evening. The July article describes a completed restitution, not a new theft.
Michael Barzman agreed to plead guilty to lying to the FBI and admitted in court papers to creating fake works and inventing provenance. The works were seized in Orlando in 2022.
The competing parties reached an out-of-court agreement over Van Gogh’s The Novel Reader. An appeals court had previously ordered the Detroit Institute of Arts to retain the loaned canvas while the dispute was pending.
Police found five paintings, including works by Elaine de Kooning and Jane Freilicher, in a Lakewood hotel room on 6 January. They had been stolen from a vehicle in Boulder in December 2022 while in transit. Photo of two of the recovered works: Boulder Police Department via The Art Newspaper.
Heirs of Ludwig Marum sought restitution from the Israel Museum, alleging that the illustrated manuscript had been taken from their family. A New York state court dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and found the dispute belonged in another forum. Image shows two pages of the manuscript, Google Art Project via Wikimedia Commons.
Peru’s Ministry of Culture confirmed the return of Virgin of Guadalupe, stolen from Santiago Apóstol church in Ollantaytambo in 2002, and Pentecost, stolen from Santa Cruz de Orurillo church in Puno in 2001. Both works had returned from the United States. The image shows Virgin of Guadalupe at a repatriation event in Los Angeles.
Ceremonial Head of a King, one of the Smithsonian works. Photo: Franko Khoury, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. Image source ↗
At a Washington ceremony, ownership of 31 works looted from Benin City in 1897 was transferred to Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments: 29 from the Smithsonian, one from RISD Museum and one from the National Gallery of Art. The announcement confirms legal transfer, rather than physical shipment of all 31 objects to Nigeria.
A New York state appeals court unanimously upheld a finding that the agreement between the artist and Marianne Boesky’s gallery was a consignment and conveyed no ownership interest in an unsold bronze. The gallery had financed fabrication and claimed a partial ownership interest. File photo shows Diana Al-Hadid, Amanda Edwards via Artnet.
Getty’s Poet and Sirens sculptures formally repatriated to Italy — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
Manhattan prosecutors announced the formal repatriation of the terracotta group following evidence of looting near Taranto. The Getty consented after investigators presented evidence concerning its trafficking history.
Fourteenth-century Durga stele returned to Nepal — artwork or case documentation from the linked image source. Image source ↗
The Durga stele, stolen from a Kathmandu Valley shrine in the 1960s, was returned at a New York ceremony. Investigators seized it after it resurfaced on the art market in 2022.
