Provenance

The Met and Yemeni government reach agreement for long-term display and care of two ancient sculptures

The artefacts, dating from the third millenium BC, will remain in New York as Yemen’s civil war drags on

Bitter row rages over ownership of marble sculpture of Indigenous man

Restitution dispute between Chrysler Museum of Art in Virginia and Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association came close to a deal in 2020

Amid mounting scrutiny of its collecting practices, Metropolitan Museum will form provenance research squad

The museum has responded to accusations that its collection includes looted artefacts by creating its largest research arm to date

Death of Vatican cleric puts his lauded but mysterious art collection under new scrutiny

Canon Monsignor Michele Basso was investigated for fraud in 2000 after allegedly trying to sell fake works

How did a clergyman come to own hundreds of Edward Hopper works? We delve into the Whitney's archive controversy

Plus, a horror show in London and a Flemish masterpiece in Bruges

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Whitney’s Edward Hopper archive questioned amid major exhibition

A Baptist minister donated a vast archive of Hopper memorabilia to the museum but some question how he acquired the works

Rothko lawsuit lays bare the privacy versus provenance conflict

A recent case, relating to the sale of work by the Abstract Expressionist, centred on the tension between client confidentiality and transparency; the solution is far from simple

New York gallery faces multi-million-dollar lawsuit over a Rothko’s mystery provenance

The lawsuit claims the Manhattan gallery Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art is refusing to divulge the seller of 'Untitled (Red, Yellow, Blue, Black and White)' (1950), which has left the provenance incomplete and the painting unsellable

Banksynews

Was Banksy’s infamous shredded painting really created in 2006?

As work heads back to auction at Sotheby's, the provenance of the street artist’s Girl with Balloon is being questioned

How did this gem—an ‘archaic Greek masterpiece’—end up for sale at Christie’s in New York after being banned from leaving the UK?

The Ionides Scarab sold for $250,000 in April—but it may not have been the auction house’s, nor the consigner’s, right to sell the object in the US

Restitutioninterview

Why African voices are crucial to the debate over the return of colonial loot

Senegalese art historian El Hadji Malick Ndiaye says discussions and decisions about the restitution of African artefacts cannot be dictated by the West

Louvre probes its collection for Nazi and colonial loot in massive provenance research project

Museum launches an online catalogue of 485,000 objects while curators comb through wartime acquisitions and works from former colonies

Forging ahead with historic restitution plans, Dutch museums will launch €4.5m project to develop a practical guide on colonial collections

Researchers will consider “various modes of return” for museum objects and how the process can help to reconcile with colonial past

An arms dealer casts a shadow over Kunsthaus Zurich

Petition calls for more transparency in planned display of the collection of Emil Georg Bührle, who bought Nazi-looted art with a fortune built on weapons

Art marketanalysis

Six of the best catalogues raisonnés

From Leonardo to Bacon, take your pick from a selection of essential texts on leading artists

Art marketcomment

Provenance: the Trojan horse that can make or break a work of art

The who, where and when of ownership can lead on to scholarly, ethical, legal and existential issues

It is time for catalogues raisonnés to join the digital age

Printed publications can quickly become obsolete, so the ease with which a digital document can be revised is a godsend—and that is what makes many uneasy

Unesco under fire for using Met objects in anti-trafficking campaign

Advertisements said that the works were looted in recent years, but Met documentation shows that they have a much longer provenance

The devil is in the paperwork—don't be caught out by provenance fraud

The rise of the online art market means due diligence on purchasing art is becoming increasingly complex

The only way is ethics: US museums should not neglect provenance research in the funding crisis

Ethical institutional practices such as staff equity and due diligence are essential investments, "not merely a luxury for flush times"

Quran quietly sells for record £7m despite questions over its provenance

Manuscript sold at Christie's first live sale in London since the coronavirus lockdown, but academics say its ownership history should be more transparent

Curator reveals how a Jewish collector snuck a medieval tapestry out of Nazi Germany

Victoria Reed, the provenance curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has been sharing the history about a work from the collection each day on Twitter while the museum remains locked down

Nazi loot expert joins Louvre to investigate its wartime acquisitions

Hire of French art historian Emmanuelle Polack suggests a more proactive stance on Nazi-era provenance research at Paris museum

Lawnews

Family claims quarter share of disputed Isleworth Mona Lisa

The painting, long the subject of an attribution dispute, is now at the centre of a legal conflict over ownership

Nazi lootarchive

Nazi loot claim for Tate’s Constable

Beaching a Boat, Brighton, has been claimed by the heirs of Baron Ferenc Hatvany

American museums increasingly proactive about restitution cases

30 memorial totems were repatriated to the Kenya last month

Getting back art from Gurlitt’s hoard of Degenerate art

While the legal status of stolen or confiscated works is as yet unclear, there is hope for those who make claims for restitution

Heirs of persecuted dealer Alfred Flechtheim reject provenance project over restitution claims

The Jewish dealer’s relatives say participating museums are not dealing satisfactorily with their claims