France | Cultural Property & Archaeology Law

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An Update on Turkey’s Cultural War

January 30, 2013

Turkey is currently seeking the return of thousands of antiquities which they believe are rightfully theirs. In this pursuit, Turkish officials are using every weapon in their arsenal and inciting what they have referred to as a “cultural war.” Turkish officials have not only threatened to halt their practice of lending archeological treasures to museums […]

European Commission Renews Efforts to Protect Cultural Artifacts

December 2, 2011

The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, is renewing its efforts to keep track and prevent the loss of cultural artifacts. It announced on November 29 that there will be a consultation relating to a new idea of how to prevent the illicit trafficking of cultural items being removed from member-states. Other […]

France Battles UK Gallery for “Stolen” Old Master Painting

November 9, 2011

France is refusing to allow a London gallery to retrieve a 17th century Tournier painting that they brought in to display at a Paris art fair. France claims that The Carrying of the Cross was confiscated by the government during the French revolution, put on display in a museum, and thereafter disappeared in 1818. The […]

Looted Breton Painting Returned to France

October 25, 2011

In an official ceremony last week, the United States returned the looted “Fisherman’s Daughter” painting by Jules Breton to France. In 1918, German occupation troops confiscated many works of art from the Douai Beaux Art Museum in Northern France, “Fisherman’s Daughter” among them. Last year, a New York art dealer was found importing the painting […]

Stolen Degas Painting Returned to French After 38 Years Missing

January 25, 2011

US Homeland Security has returned a Degas painting, “Blanchisseuses Souffrant Des Dents” (Laundrywoman with an Aching Tooth), to the acting French ambassador. The painting was stolen in 1973 from Musée Malraux in Le Havre in Normandy, and had been missing since. Last October, the painting appeared in a Sotheby’s New York catalogue for an auction […]

Cultural Property Law on January 22, 2011: Mosquito Bombers, the Golden Horn, and (Not?) Caligula’s Tomb

January 22, 2011

I’ve been down the rabbit hole for the past couple weeks, preparing for the Spring semester and recovering from the holidays, but here are a few recent happenings on the cultural property law front: Last week, Italian police arrested a looter loading an ancient statue into his truck. The arrest led to the discovery of […]

The Paris Art Theft: Acrobatics, Decomposition, and Imaginary Numbers

June 1, 2010

I’m sure you’ve heard of the recent theft of 5 paintings from the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris. And I’m sorry I’ve not been around to mull over the crime with you, but I’ve been quite swamped tying up loose ends on my jobby job as I prepared to leave it for good, getting ready […]

Cultural Property Law on March 19, 2010: Archive Theft, the Gardner Anniversary, and the Windsor Hotel

March 19, 2010

And today in cultural property law news… Ulrich Boser, author of The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft, comments on the anniversary of the Gardner heist; The New York Times interviewed Phillippe de Montebello, former director of the MET for 30-odd years, now teaching museum culture and history at […]