Loot

Dutch government committee recommends return of colonial-era artefacts

The report calls for a new panel to advise the minister on repatriations and a new provenance research centre

Turin museum pays settlement to Jewish heirs for Renaissance Madonna that was looted by Nazis

Family of Gustav Arens also receive French government compensation for a Tintoretto painting and a Dutch landscape

Waning market for African artefacts? Controversial Benin bronze fails to sell at Christie's

Academics challenge the provenance of the Edo plaque as well as two Igbo alusi figures that sold under estimate for €212,500

Facebook and Instagram ban trading of historical artefacts

Heritage group Athar were part of a campaign highlighting the social media giants' “black market in antiquities”

'We want to be part of the solution': UK museum says it is open to discussing fate of Benin bronze after prince demands its return

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery wants to work in tandem with the Benin Dialogue Group, which is made up of institutions that hold the majority of the pieces

India asks Ashmolean Museum to return 15th-century bronze idol believed stolen from temple

Independent scholar uncovers questionable provenance for the sculpture that the Oxford institution bought from Sotheby's in 1967

Lootnews

Looted ancient temple sculpture—seized by UK police—will go home to Afghanistan

British Museum and Art Loss Register collaborate over recovery of ancient bull decoration that was consigned to an online auction

Berlin restitutes painting to heirs of 'degenerate' artist for the first time

A portrayal of Lot by Hans Baldung Grien was sold to the Gemäldegalerie in 1937 by Hans Purrmann

'An invaluable resource' for provenance research: German pre-1945 auction catalogues are published online

The database includes 9,000 catalogues from more than 390 auction houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

German baker Dr Oetker finds possible Nazi loot in company art collection

The maker of baking products, muesli and pizza, promises to return any plundered art to heirs of Jewish owners

Belgium eliminates federal taskforce to fight trafficking in cultural property

Interior minister says art and antiquities crime is ‘not considered a priority’

US Senate blocks the import of art and artefacts from Syria

Bill aimed at ending Islamic State’s rampant looting of archaeological sites is passed in unanimous vote

Yale hosts United Nations colloquium on preservation of heritage sites

University presidents and faculty from around 20 nations are due to participate

Is the Israel Museum’s Birds’ Head Haggadah Nazi-era loot?

The manuscript was once owned by the family of a German-Jewish politician who opposed Hitler

What do we really know about Islamic State’s role in illicit antiquities trade?

Experts at London symposium warn against misinformation and lack of evidence

Looted Pissarro work to return to France

La bergère rentrant des moutons, seized by Nazis in 1941, has been hanging in an Oklahoma university museum since 2000

Beverly Hills antiquities dealer sentenced to jail for smuggling scheme

California museums caught up in the ring were raided by federal agents in 2008

Icom releases red list of Libyan antiquities at risk

With the country in “chaos” because of civil war, museum council warns officials, institutions and the art trade of the kinds of objects that could be looted

Isil holds heritage to ransom to fund fighters, US expert warns

Terrorist group functions as a modern racketeering operation through sale of plundered cultural objects

Heritagecomment

Calls to open looted-art archives grow louder

Museums and the trade want to put an end to the Catch-22 situation with Medici and Becchina

Lootfeature

The fruits of war: how Napoleon’s looted art found its way home

The Vatican, with Canova as its representative, and the British government, with Wellington at the forefront, played major roles in repatriating the masterpieces that were the spoils of Napoleon’s European campaigns<br>

Stolen art? Why no one can say for sure

One of the main art databases, the Art Loss Register, has issued certificates for works looted or subject to recovery claims

Lawnews

Federal agents comb records for disgraced dealer Subhash Kapoor's sales and gifts

Authorities claim that Kapoor organised global trade in stolen Asian antiquities, casting doubt on some of his gifts to international museums

Museum officials on hunt for lost Cranach

The painting of Venus and Cupid hung in Hitler’s breakfast room