Art News. Vasari Codex

gavel restitution schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 18 link 3 artists

california revives nazi looted pissarro cassirer case

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a motion on November 17 to intervene in the Cassirer family's two-decade-long restitution case for a Camille Pissarro painting stolen by the Nazis. The artwork, *Rue Saint Honore, Apres Midi, Effet De Pluie* (1897), is owned by Spain's Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had previously ruled that Spanish law applied, allowing the museum to keep the painting, but California's Assembly Bill 2867, signed into law in September, now seeks to apply California law to protect victims of art theft. The case has been sent back to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for reconsideration.

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gavel restitution schedule Nov 18, 2025 visibility 18 link 4 artists

california attorney general nazi looted picasso madrid

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has re-entered the long-running legal battle over a Camille Pissarro painting, *Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon, Effect of Rain* (1897), which was sold under duress by Lilly Cassirer Neubauer to a Nazi appraiser in 1939 for 900 Reichsmarks. The painting is now held by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, and the Cassirer family has sought its return for decades. A new California law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September allows exceptions for property taken as a result of political persecution, and Bonta is now defending the state's authority to compel the return of stolen art to victims connected to California.

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gavel restitution schedule Jul 21, 2025 visibility 11 link 1 artist

antonio solario stolen painting returned

A British woman, Barbara de Dozsa, has voluntarily returned a stolen Renaissance painting by Antonio Solario to the Civic Museum of Belluno in Italy, more than 50 years after it was stolen in a 1973 heist. The work, a Madonna and Child, was purchased by her late ex-husband, Baron de Dozsa, shortly after the theft and later inherited by her. Although UK law allowed her to keep it legally, she was persuaded by art recovery specialist Christopher Marinello to return it on moral grounds, citing the painting's status on the Interpol database and the museum's role as a guardian of cultural heritage.

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gavel restitution schedule May 29, 2025 visibility 13 link 1 artist

louvre to return 258 works from rothschild cabinet of curiosities

The Louvre Museum in Paris will return 258 works from the bequest of collector Adèle de Rothschild to the Fondation des Artistes after a 2019 cross-inventory revealed the objects were improperly inventoried in the Louvre's collection. Rothschild, who died in 1922, bequeathed her private mansion and its contents to the French government with the stipulation that her cabinet of curiosities remain intact, but the Louvre held works from the cabinet—including objets d'art and Islamic art—in violation of her wishes. The foundation's director, Laurence Maynier, described the surrender as a "just return," noting that the objects were all in storage and invisible to the public. Some 30 other objects will remain at the Louvre for five years to allow curators to find replacements, and the museum will receive 104 pieces from the foundation's inventory as compensation. The cabinet is set to reopen in September.

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gavel restitution schedule Aug 28, 2025 visibility 16 link 5 artists

nazi looted painting disappears argentina home

A Dutch newspaper, Algemeen Dagblad, discovered a Nazi-looted Baroque painting by Giuseppe Ghislandi (also known as Fra Galgario) listed in a real estate ad for a home in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The painting, which once belonged to Jewish dealer Jacques Goudstikker, was later removed from the listing and disappeared from the house, prompting a police investigation involving Interpol. The work had been in the possession of SS officer Friedrich Kadgien, who fled to Argentina after World War II.

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gavel restitution schedule Feb 23, 2026 visibility 8 link 1 artist, 1 gallery

appeals court clears spanish dealer convent sculpture

The High Court of Justice of Andalusia has overturned a four-year prison sentence for antiques dealer Santos Boy Jiménez Cortés, who was previously convicted of misappropriating a 17th-century Baroque sculpture. The artwork, 'Saint Margaret of Cortona' by José de Mora, was purchased from the Our Lady of the Angels convent in Granada for €21,600 before being resold to a Madrid gallery and eventually offered at TEFAF New York for €400,000. The court ruled that the nuns' claims—that they had only requested a restoration budget rather than selling the piece—were inconsistent and lacked documentation.

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gavel restitution schedule Sep 3, 2025 visibility 14 link 1 artist

nazi looted painting argentina recovery

Argentine authorities believe they have recovered a Nazi-looted painting by Italian Baroque artist Giuseppe Ghislandi, which appeared in a real estate listing for a home in Mar del Plata. The home belongs to Patricia Kadgien, the daughter of a Nazi official, who initially faced accusations of obstructing the investigation but later turned over the painting to the Civil Court. The work was once owned by Jewish dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who fled Amsterdam during the Nazi rise and died shortly after; it is listed as missing in a registry of lost art.

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