{"id":304,"date":"2021-03-03T00:14:07","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T16:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/?p=304"},"modified":"2021-03-02T22:45:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T14:45:33","slug":"looting-plundering-and-more-20-cultural-treasures-that-have-faced-claims-of-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/artist\/looting-plundering-and-more-20-cultural-treasures-that-have-faced-claims-of-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"Looting, Plundering, and More: 20 Cultural Treasures That Have Faced Claims of Theft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Art theft typically conjures pieces ripped from the walls of world-class museums, and while\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">art heists take place frequently<\/a>, they are not the only means by which priceless treasures are taken. Throughout history, masterpieces have plundered, looted, and stolen, and taken far away from the original locales.<\/p>\n<p>For the former owners of such stolen works, getting their prized possessions back can be tricky and involve decades-long legal and political ordeals. Whether the cases involve allegations that works were looted during war or plundered during conquests, the process of retrieving these pieces can be long and difficult\u2014and even, in many cases, unsuccessful.<\/p>\n<p>The list below surveys 20 works that were subject to claims that they had been looted, plundered, or stolen by other means. By no means comprehensive, it includes works looted by the Nazis, objects taken as war booty, and artifacts plundered amid conquests and colonization. In many cases, allegations that the works were taken improperly have been disputed by the institutions and collectors that currently claim ownership over the art in question, and the battles by the people who claim to be the pieces\u2019 original owners is still ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past decade, demands for the repatriation of cultural objects\u2014particularly ones from Africa\u2014have grown louder, and this list also reflects some of those claims. It will be updated as new developments take place.<\/p>\n<p>Below, a look at 20 iconic cultural treasures that have faced allegations that they were stolen, from ancient Greek marbles and African artifacts to Renaissance masterpieces and a modernist treasure.<\/p>\n<div id=\"pmc-gallery-vertical\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slides\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584730\" data-slide-index=\"0\" data-slide-position-display=\"1\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-slide-id=\"1234584730\" data-slide-index=\"0\" data-slide-position-display=\"1\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">The Horses of St. Mark&#8217;s are stolen during the sacking of Constantinople (1204)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP67820386817.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP67820386817.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP67820386817.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP67820386817.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP67820386817.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP67820386817.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"The Horses of St. Mark's.\" width=\"819\" height=\"575\" \/><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\"> Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Waltraud Grubitzsch\/picture-alliance\/dpa\/AP Images<\/span><\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">While looting and plundering are generally regarded as a more modern phenomenon, with most events listed here taking place over the past few centuries, it is, in fact, a practice as old as time. Sometime around 330, a set of four bronze horses that appear to be trotting onward were stolen, perhaps from somewhere in Greece, by Constantine. Eventually, they made their way to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in what is now modern-day Turkey, and they remained there for centuries.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In 1204, as the city was being sacked, the Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo\u2019s troops took the sculptures and brought them to Italy, where they were placed before St. Mark\u2019s Basilica. Even after their second theft, these sculptures could not catch a break: Napoleon\u2019s soldiers took them and mounted them atop the Arc de Triomphe in 1797. (They narrowly avoided being melted down into cannonballs.) In 1815, the statues were returned to St. Mark\u2019s, though they are now kept inside the basilica instead of outside it because of the risks posed by air pollution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584732\" data-slide-index=\"1\" data-slide-position-display=\"2\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">Napoleon\u2019s soldiers cut a giant Veronese painting from a Venetian refectory (1797)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1590px-Paolo_Veronese_008.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1590px-Paolo_Veronese_008.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1590px-Paolo_Veronese_008.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1590px-Paolo_Veronese_008.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1590px-Paolo_Veronese_008.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1590px-Paolo_Veronese_008.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"Paolo Veronese, 'The Wedding at Cana', 1563.\" width=\"847\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>By 1705, Paolo Veronese\u2019s\u00a0<em>Wedding at Cana<\/em>\u00a0(1563), a sprawling 32-foot-long painting depicting the famed biblical episode, was drawing so many visitors that the Bendectine monks at St. Mark\u2019s Basilica in Venice had to start capping how many people could see in a given span of time. What those monks didn\u2019t know is that, less than 100 years later, the painting would be leaving Venice for good. In 1797, Napoleon\u2019s troops hauled the painting back to France as war booty, along with four bronze horses (see entry 1).<\/p>\n<p>Because of the painting\u2019s size, it was cut into pieces and restitched upon its arrival in France. It can now be seen at the Louvre, where it ranks among the museum\u2019s many treasures. Although the legality of the situation has been settled\u2014an 1815 exchange that saw a work by Charles Le Brun head from France to Italy cleared that up\u2014the plundering continues to rankle Venetians, who have made various failed attempts to reclaim the work. In 2010, Venice got a version of the Veronese back, thanks to a high-tech digital facsimile, and in 2021, art historian and journalist Cynthia Saltzman\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">published a book<\/a>\u00a0about Napoleon\u2019s taking of the work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-slide-id=\"1234584807\" data-slide-index=\"2\" data-slide-position-display=\"3\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">A beloved set of sculptures from Parthenon head to England (1801\u201312)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP19332373710554.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP19332373710554.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP19332373710554.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP19332373710554.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP19332373710554.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP19332373710554.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"The Elgin Marbles.\" width=\"990\" height=\"575\" \/><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Waltraud Grubitzsch\/picture-alliance\/dpa\/AP Images<\/span><\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In 1816, the British Museum purchased a set of ancient Greek marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens for \u00a335,000 (about $4.8 million today). The 1801\u201312 excavation of these objects overseen by Lord Elgin, a Scottish diplomat, cost about two times that amount, but the works\u2014a giant horse\u2019s head, a metope depicting a battle between a man and a centaur, and more\u2014are now considered priceless. For that reason, they have been the subject of scrutiny, with many alleging that Elgin may not have legally purchased the works from the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Greece at the time. (A lack of documentation that could establish that such a purchase was legally sound has only heightened these claims.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Greece has demanded the Elgin Marbles\u2019 return and has said it plans to show them in the Acropolis Museum, where there is already a space for their display, should they ever come back. But, as of 2021, there are no signs that the British Museum plans to let the Elgin Marbles leave, and in 2014, the London institution even turned down an offer from UNESCO to mediate negotiations for their return with Greece. \u201cThe trustees of the British Museum are entirely satisfied that the Parthenon Sculptures were legally acquired,\u201d a spokesperson told\u00a0<em>ARTnews<\/em>\u00a0in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584801\" data-slide-index=\"3\" data-slide-position-display=\"4\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">The Rosetta Stone is displayed in London after being discovered in Egypt (1802)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP174805460607.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP174805460607.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP174805460607.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP174805460607.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP174805460607.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP174805460607.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"The Rosetta Stone.\" width=\"862\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Daniel Kalker\/picture-alliance\/dpa\/AP Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>The Rosetta Stone, a granite stone etched with three ancient scripts and dating to the second century B.C.E., has been considered one of the greatest artifacts of all time for the secrets it revealed about ancient languages, in particular hieroglyphics. Having been discovered in 1799 near Alexandria by a Frenchman, it was given to the British after France surrendered Egypt in 1801.<\/p>\n<p>But the terms by which it ultimately entered the British Museum\u2019s collection are unclear, and Zahi Hawass, the former head of Egypt\u2019s antiquities department, has alleged that it was stolen. \u201cIf the British want to be remembered, if they want to restore their reputation, they should volunteer to return the Rosetta Stone because it is the icon of our Egyptian identity,\u201d he once said. In 2009, when Hawass asked for the object to be loaned to Egypt, British Museum said that no official request for its return had been made by his country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584809\" data-slide-index=\"4\" data-slide-position-display=\"5\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">British troops take a gold crown during the capture of Maqdala (1868)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2006BB3198.jpg?w=474\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 606px, (max-width: 1440px) 606px, (max-width: 2560px) 606px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2006BB3198.jpg?w=189 189w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2006BB3198.jpg?w=379 379w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2006BB3198.jpg?w=474 474w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2006BB3198.jpg?w=606 606w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/2006BB3198.jpg?w=808 808w\" alt=\"The crown of Maqdala.\" width=\"454\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">\u00a0Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">\u00a9Victoria &amp; Albert Museum, London<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>In 1868, British troops captured Maqdala in a battle that was part of a larger attempt to overthrow the Ethiopian empire. As they ransacked a fortress, the soldiers took with them various riches, including an ornate gold crown that is believed to have been commissioned in the 1740s by a ruler and her son.<\/p>\n<p>That crown is now on view at Victoria &amp; Albert Museum in London, which faced a call for the return and various other artifacts by Ethiopia in 2007. In 2018, as the museum put on view a special presentation devoted to the Maqdala artifacts, renewed attention was paid to that demand. That year, the museum\u2019s director, Tristram Hunt, held out the possibility of a long-term loan to Ethiopia.<\/p>\n<p>Although the museum notes on its website that the works act as an \u201cunsettling reminder of the imperial processes which enabled British museums to acquire the cultural assets of others,\u201d the V&amp;A has said it will not return the crown and other objects as of 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584812\" data-slide-index=\"5\" data-slide-position-display=\"6\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">A Senegalese sword is seized by the French (1893)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP18360328143279.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP18360328143279.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP18360328143279.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP18360328143279.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP18360328143279.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP18360328143279.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"The Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar.\" width=\"862\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Photo Amelia Nierenberg\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>It is currently estimated that the French state owns 90,000 objects from sub-Saharan Africa, one of which is a sword formerly belonging to a military leader, Omar Sa\u00efdou Tall, who once ruled the Toucouleur empire, which encompassed parts of modern-day Senegal, Mali, and Guinea. In 1893, after Tall\u2019s son Ahmadou was defeated in battle by the French, the sword was taken from Africa and brought to France. It later entered the collection of the Army Museum in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, the work was handed over to Senegalese president Macky Sall after having been on view at Dakar\u2019s Museum of Black Civilizations for several months. Even if the sword\u2019s return was not technically a restitution, as the French state emphasized, it was progress toward one. As France slowly inches closer to repatriating objects to Africa, the sword\u2019s return is considered a landmark step.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584815\" data-slide-index=\"6\" data-slide-position-display=\"7\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">The \u201cBangwa Queen\u201d is acquired by a German agent and heads to Berlin (1897\u201399)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/297_mu_ch_dapper02_thumb.jpg?w=456\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 584px, (max-width: 1440px) 584px, (max-width: 2560px) 584px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/297_mu_ch_dapper02_thumb.jpg?w=183 183w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/297_mu_ch_dapper02_thumb.jpg?w=365 365w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/297_mu_ch_dapper02_thumb.jpg?w=456 456w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/297_mu_ch_dapper02_thumb.jpg?w=584 584w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/297_mu_ch_dapper02_thumb.jpg?w=730 730w\" alt=\"The Bangwa Queen.\" width=\"437\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">\u00a9Fondation Dapper\/Photo Hughes Dubois<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>The \u201cBangwa Queen,\u201d a sculpture from Cameroon\u2019s Grassfields region, has generated renown in the U.S. and Europe for its decorated provenance\u2014it once was held by the collector Helena Rubinstein. The sculpture had famously been photographed by Man Ray, and it has figured in shows at MoMA, the Met, and various other institutions.<\/p>\n<p>It came to Europe sometime between 1897 and 1899, and it went to Berlin\u2019s Museum f\u00fcr V\u00f6lkerkunde. (It\u2019s not clear whether it was given to the German agent or looted.) The museum held the work until 1926 when it was first sold to an art dealer. Rubinstein acquired it in the 1930s.<\/p>\n<p>Later, Rubinstein\u2019s collection of African and Oceanic art objects was sold at Sotheby\u2019s Parke Bernet in 1966, where California collector Harry A. Franklin purchased it. Franklin would sell the work at auction in 1990, where it was bought for a record $3.4 million by the Dapper Foundation, which still owns the work.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, it has made headlines because the Bangwa people have begun seeking its return, fearing that it might head to auction once more. The Dapper Foundation, which closed its Paris museum in 2017, said in 2018 that it will continue to appear in exhibitions around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584734\" data-slide-index=\"7\" data-slide-position-display=\"8\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">A cache of African artifacts is stolen amid a raid by British soldiers (1897)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/524885001.jpg?w=450\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 576px, (max-width: 1440px) 576px, (max-width: 2560px) 576px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/524885001.jpg?w=180 180w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/524885001.jpg?w=360 360w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/524885001.jpg?w=450 450w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/524885001.jpg?w=576 576w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/524885001.jpg?w=768 768w\" alt=\"A plaque featuring an oba.\" width=\"431\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">\u00a9Trustees of the British Museum<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>In 1897, James Phillips, an unarmed British member of a trading expedition, visited the Kingdom of Benin, in what is today Nigeria. Believing that the expedition was going to interrupt a series of rituals taking place, the kingdom\u2019s ruler, or its\u00a0<em>oba<\/em>, Ovonramwen, had Phillips and several others killed. Two hundred African porters were also slain in the process. In retribution, Britain sent soldiers to take artifacts from the kingdom, in an attempt to weaken its reign. Then as now, the objects they took were highly valuable\u2014they took with them a carved ivory mask depicting the\u00a0<em>oba<\/em>, a series of brass plaques known as the Benin Bronzes, and a group of giant tusks. Some of these works now reside at the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other major institutions around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Many in Africa have demanded that these institutions return the works, and possibly the most notable call of the kind came out of 1977\u2019s FESTAC festival in Lagos, where the ivory mask acted as a symbol for the event. Nevertheless, Nigerians are still awaiting the return of most of the Benin Bronzes, and the Edo Museum of West African Art, a new museum due to open in 2025 in Benin City, will act as a future home when objects are repatriated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584820\" data-slide-index=\"8\" data-slide-position-display=\"9\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">A sacred headdress is taken from an Indigenous Australian group (1910s or earlier)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ceremony-Dancers-Gangalidda-and-Garawa-2008_e.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 912px, (max-width: 2560px) 912px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ceremony-Dancers-Gangalidda-and-Garawa-2008_e.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ceremony-Dancers-Gangalidda-and-Garawa-2008_e.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ceremony-Dancers-Gangalidda-and-Garawa-2008_e.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ceremony-Dancers-Gangalidda-and-Garawa-2008_e.jpg?w=912 912w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Ceremony-Dancers-Gangalidda-and-Garawa-2008_e.jpg?w=912 912w\" alt=\"The Gangalidda Garawa people.\" width=\"912\" height=\"398\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Courtesy AIATSIS<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>Certain estimates suggest that U.K. museums own at least 32,000 objects belonging to Indigenous Australian groups, and in 2019, the Manchester Museum made history when it gave back a sacred headdress made of emu feathers to the Gangalidda Garawa people in a ceremony, becoming the first institution in the country to undertake such an endeavor.<\/p>\n<p>The headdress has entered the U.K. at least 100 years before, and it was returned as part of an initiative commemorating the 250th anniversary of British explorer James Cook\u2019s first voyage to Australia. The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies had identified the headdress as an object in need of return.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to make it crystal clear that our people want our secret sacred items home,\u201d Christopher Simpson, a member of the Wakka Wakka people who runs AIATSIS, told the\u00a0<em>Guardian<\/em>\u00a0at the time. \u201cThere are objects that are displayed in museums that we\u2019d like to be empowered about and tell the full story of those items.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584824\" data-slide-index=\"9\" data-slide-position-display=\"10\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">A set of objects from Machu Picchu is taken to Yale for research (1911)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20301666508019.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20301666508019.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20301666508019.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20301666508019.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20301666508019.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20301666508019.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"Machu Picchu.\" width=\"911\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Martin Mejia\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>When Connecticut governor Hiram Bingham III began excavating the stone ruins of Machu Picchu with the consent of Peru in 1911, he discovered riches ranging from pottery to human bones. Many of these objects were taken to Yale University for research, and though some were ultimately shipped back to Peru, it became clear that others weren\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>Peru, which had been eager to protect its cultural heritage against looting, began seeking their return, in a battle that lasted almost a full century. In 2008, the quest intensified when Peru sued in U.S. federal court for their return. Yale refused to give them up, claiming that the country had waited too long. Alan Garc\u00eda, then the president of Peru, got involved, seeking the help of President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI. In the end, an agreement was reached after a delegation traveled to Peru, and it was decided that the objects would head to a university in Cuzco for their study and that a museum would ultimately be built to house them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584736\" data-slide-index=\"10\" data-slide-position-display=\"11\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">A bust of Nefertiti makes its way to Germany (1913)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP178232332890.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP178232332890.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP178232332890.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP178232332890.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP178232332890.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP178232332890.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"A bust of Queen Nefertiti in Berlin's National Museums.\" width=\"862\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Photo Michael Sohn\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>With its almond-shaped eyes and its vivid colors, a 3,500-year-old limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti is considered one of the most important artifacts to come out of ancient Egypt\u2014though you can only view it if you visit Germany. The sculpture was removed from Egypt in 1913 after being found during a dig at the archeological site Amarna by Ludwig Borchardt the year before. Over the past decade, as Egypt has ramped up its efforts to get back its cultural heritage held abroad, the bust has faced calls for Berlin\u2019s National Museums to return it, including from the former Egyptian minister of antiquities affairs Zahi Hawass, who claimed that it entered Germany illegally.<\/p>\n<p>Such demands are not new\u2014Egypt began imploring Germany to give back the bust as early as 1920\u2014though they have grown louder in recent years. German officials have responded that the work deserves to remain in Berlin, with art historian Monika Gr\u00fctters telling the\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>\u00a0in 2009, \u201cThere was a complete understanding about what would remain in Egypt and what would be taken to Germany. The process was legal.\u201d In 2011, Egypt submitted a formal request to get the work back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584738\" data-slide-index=\"11\" data-slide-position-display=\"12\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">A famed Klimt portrait is seized by the Nazis (1930s\u201340s)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060712016553.jpg?w=736\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 942px, (max-width: 2560px) 942px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060712016553.jpg?w=294 294w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060712016553.jpg?w=589 589w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060712016553.jpg?w=736 736w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060712016553.jpg?w=942 942w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060712016553.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"Maria Altmann (at center) with a Klimt portrait at the Neue Galerie.\" width=\"705\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Photo Bebeto Matthews\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>Gustav Klimt\u2019s\u00a0<em>Portrait of<\/em>\u00a0<em>Adele Bloch-Bauer I<\/em>\u00a0(1907), a knockout portrait featuring a female sitter whose gold and black dress appears to surround her, was bought by collector Ronald Lauder for $135 million in 2006, and it has hung at his New York museum, the Neue Galerie, ever since. But its journey there was long and arduous. The painting once belonged to the husband of the titular subject, who, in 1938, left Austria as the Nazis were rising to power during World War II. The Nazis then gave the work to the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, where it remained for years afterward.<\/p>\n<p>All the while, Bloch-Bauer\u2019s niece, Maria Altmann, repeatedly claimed that the work had been looted by the Nazis, and undertook various legal actions in an attempt to get it back. Her tireless work paid off: in 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Altmann could sue Austria, and a tribunal in that country decided that she was the rightful owner of the Klimt and four other works. Altmann\u2019s struggle to reobtain the work was later given the cinematic treatment in the form of a 2015 movie where Helen Mirren played her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584740\" data-slide-index=\"12\" data-slide-position-display=\"13\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">Raphael\u2019s\u00a0<em>Portrait of a Young Man<\/em>\u00a0goes missing during World War II (1930s\u201340s)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Raphael-Young_man-1.jpg?w=485\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 620px, (max-width: 1440px) 620px, (max-width: 2560px) 620px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Raphael-Young_man-1.jpg?w=194 194w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Raphael-Young_man-1.jpg?w=388 388w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Raphael-Young_man-1.jpg?w=485 485w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Raphael-Young_man-1.jpg?w=620 620w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Raphael-Young_man-1.jpg?w=827 827w\" alt=\"Raphael, 'Portrait of a Young Man', 1514.\" width=\"464\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>There are very few known Raphael self-portraits, and scholars believe that one may be\u00a0<em>Portrait of a Young Man<\/em>\u00a0(ca. 1515), which was acquired by the Czartoryski family in Poland in 1800. Afterward, it was put on view at the family\u2019s museum in Krakow. But during the World War II, the painting disappeared, along with hundreds of other pieces that the Nazis took from the family\u2019s cellar as loot. Its history thereafter remains blurry, with some believing that the work was taken to Austria.<\/p>\n<p>For the past six decades, the Czartoryski family has searched for the work, and in 1998, Prince Adam Czartoryski told the\u00a0<em>Art Newspaper<\/em>, \u201cEver since I learned about the Raphael as a boy, I have been hopeful that it will turn up.\u201d Briefly, there was hope that it was found\u2014reports in 2012 claimed that the painting was located, though these were quickly debunked. For now, an empty frame that once held the canvas is on view at the National Museum in Krakow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584742\" data-slide-index=\"13\" data-slide-position-display=\"14\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">The Rothschild family loses a beloved Vermeer during World War II (1940s)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Vermeer-_The_astronomer.jpg?w=541\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 692px, (max-width: 1440px) 692px, (max-width: 2560px) 692px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Vermeer-_The_astronomer.jpg?w=216 216w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Vermeer-_The_astronomer.jpg?w=433 433w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Vermeer-_The_astronomer.jpg?w=541 541w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Vermeer-_The_astronomer.jpg?w=692 692w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Vermeer-_The_astronomer.jpg?w=923 923w\" alt=\"Jan Vermeer, 'The Astronomer', 1668.\" width=\"518\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>According to some estimates, one-third of all privately owned art in France was looted by the Nazis during World War II, and one such work was Jan Vermeer\u2019s\u00a0<em>The Astronomer<\/em>\u00a0(1668), one of just three dozen paintings attributed to the artist. \u00c9douard de Rothschild, a Jewish collector, formerly owned the work, and it was taken from him by the Nazis, who brought it from Paris to Germany. The work was stamped with a swastika, which is still on the back of its canvas.<\/p>\n<p>In 1945, the Vermeer painting, along with numerous other masterpieces, was found in the Altaussee salt mine in Austria, where the Nazis had stowed many looted artworks. (Hitler had been planning to put the work in a sizable institution of his making.) Ultimately, the work was given back to the Rothschild family, and in 1983, the French state acquired it, putting it on view at the Louvre, where it remains today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584744\" data-slide-index=\"14\" data-slide-position-display=\"15\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">Michelangelo\u2019s Bruges Madonna gets stolen by the Nazis (1944)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP318325047461.jpg?w=359\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 459px, (max-width: 1440px) 459px, (max-width: 2560px) 459px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP318325047461.jpg?w=143 143w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP318325047461.jpg?w=287 287w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP318325047461.jpg?w=359 359w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP318325047461.jpg?w=459 459w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP318325047461.jpg?w=612 612w\" alt=\"Michelangelo's Bruges Madonna.\" width=\"344\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Photo Yves Logghe\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>The Bruges Madonna, a statue featuring the Madonna smiling down at the baby Jesus, has had the rare misfortune of having been stolen twice. In 1794, when he occupied the Belgian city, Napoleon\u2019s troops took the statue from the Church of Our Lady, which had held the work since 1514; the work was returned in 1814. Then, during World War II, it was plundered once more.<\/p>\n<p>In 1944, just before Belgium was liberated by Allied forces, the Nazis stole the sculpture, eventually moving it to the Altaussee salt mine, where the Monuments Men\u2014a team of researchers who undertook the risky search of Nazi-looted art in wartime Europe\u2014later found it. One year later, the Michelangelo statue was returned to the church, where it currently be seen today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584827\" data-slide-index=\"15\" data-slide-position-display=\"16\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">Artifacts from Cambodia end up with a controversial dealer (second half of 20th century)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP981156655625.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP981156655625.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP981156655625.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP981156655625.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP981156655625.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP981156655625.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"The National Museum of Cambodia.\" width=\"862\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Photo Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>Because the looting of Cambodian artifacts is so widespread, it is hard to know the depth of the trade. Throughout his life, dealer Douglas Latchford, who was born a British citizen in India and died in 2020 in Bangkok, was accused repeatedly of trafficking in such stolen objects\u2014a claim he denied over and over. \u201cMost of the pieces I have come across have been found or dug up by farmers in fields,\u201d Latchford once told the\u00a0<em>Bangkok Post<\/em>. He had faced legal action in New York for allegedly being part of a looting ring.<\/p>\n<p>That made it all the more surprising when, in 2021, Latchford\u2019s daughter, Nawapan Kriangsak, promised the return of at least 100 carvings and sculptures from her father\u2019s holdings. To accommodate the return of the objects, Cambodia is expanding a museum in its capital, Phnom Penh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584835\" data-slide-index=\"16\" data-slide-position-display=\"17\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">An ancient Greek vase is taken by grave robbers and later makes its way to New York (1971)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060221026945.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060221026945.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060221026945.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060221026945.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060221026945.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP060221026945.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"The Euphronios Krater.\" width=\"862\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Photo Mary Altaffer\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>When the Euphronios Krater, a terracotta bowl intended for mixing wine and water from around 515 B.C.E., traveled from Europe to New York in 1972, it did so via a first-class seat on a TWA flight, according to a memoir by dealer Robert Hecht. (The veracity of that memoir has been disputed by the dealer himself.) The year before, in Cerveteri, Italy, grave robbers had dug it up and then sold it to an Italian antiquities dealer. Hecht purchased it from that person and sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.<\/p>\n<p>Years later, Italy began demanding the object\u2019s return, and in 2006, an accord was reached, and the work was shipped back. \u201cThe Italian state has won,\u201d Rocco Buttiglione, the former Italian culture minister who oversaw the accord, said at the time. Today, the work is owned by the Archaeological Museum of Cerveteri.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584832\" data-slide-index=\"17\" data-slide-position-display=\"18\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">Ancient Egyptian frescoes are removed from a tomb near Luxor (1980s)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20359489719714.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20359489719714.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20359489719714.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20359489719714.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20359489719714.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP20359489719714.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"The Louvre.\" width=\"861\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Photo Jeanne Accorsini\/Sipa via AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>In 2009, controversy erupted at the Louvre after Egyptian officials claimed that the Paris museum had refused to give back four ancient frescoes from a tomb near Luxor. Egypt and France disagreed on how the works came to the museum. Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt\u2019s antiquities department, claimed that the works were \u201cstolen\u201d during the 1980s, while Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Miterrand, then the French culture minister, said that they were acquired by the museum in \u201cgood faith\u201d in 2000 and 2003 from a Parisian gallery and auction house, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Although Mitterand said he thought the objects should be returned, a highly public dispute ensued: Egypt said it would terminate relations with the Louvre and immediately shut down a dig being undertaken by the museum in Saqqara. No less than two days later, however, all was resolved when the Louvre formally agreed to return the works.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584838\" data-slide-index=\"18\" data-slide-position-display=\"19\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">Thieves plunder thousands of artifacts from a Baghdad museum amid conflict (2003)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP834644124086.jpg?w=788\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1008px, (max-width: 2560px) 1008px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP834644124086.jpg?w=315 315w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP834644124086.jpg?w=630 630w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP834644124086.jpg?w=788 788w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP834644124086.jpg?w=1008 1008w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/AP834644124086.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"An Assyrian statue at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad.\" width=\"755\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Photo Khalid Mohammed\/AP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>As U.S. troops advanced in Baghdad in 2003 while Saddam Hussein\u2019s rule was coming to an end, thousands of objects were stolen from the National Museum of Iraq, which contains several millennia of art history in its holdings. In a matter of days, thieves walked away with countless artifacts, including various highly valuable cylindrical artifacts such as\u00a0<em>The Lioness Attacking a Nubian<\/em>, which dates back to the 8th century B.C.E. and is inlaid with lapis.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, experts estimated that at least 170,000 objects were taken from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AtelierAuctionsg\">the National Museum<\/a>, though that number has shrunk significantly, and artifacts have been found under occasionally bizarre circumstances. (In one case, for example, a pot from the 7th century B.C.E. was found wrapped in a trash bag and stowed in the trunk of a car.) As of 2021, the FBI estimates that as many as 10,000 items are still missing. \u201cEvery single item that was lost is a great loss for humanity,\u201d George Youkhanna, the former director general of Iraq\u2019s museums, told\u00a0<em>Smithsonian Magazine<\/em>\u00a0in 2008.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical__slide-wrapper\" data-slide-id=\"1234584842\" data-slide-index=\"19\" data-slide-position-display=\"20\">\n<article class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__header\">\n<h2 class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__title\">A gold sarcophagus is removed from Egypt (2011)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure c-gallery-slide--loaded c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__figure--loaded\" role=\"presentation\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__image u-gallery-react-placeholder-shimmer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/nltGi6ACPWcwU-8fR0kMCQ_met-coffin-egypt-return-mag.jpg?w=800\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 414px) 414px, (max-width: 1024px) 800px, (max-width: 1440px) 1024px, (max-width: 2560px) 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/nltGi6ACPWcwU-8fR0kMCQ_met-coffin-egypt-return-mag.jpg?w=320 320w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/nltGi6ACPWcwU-8fR0kMCQ_met-coffin-egypt-return-mag.jpg?w=640 640w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/nltGi6ACPWcwU-8fR0kMCQ_met-coffin-egypt-return-mag.jpg?w=800 800w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/nltGi6ACPWcwU-8fR0kMCQ_met-coffin-egypt-return-mag.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/nltGi6ACPWcwU-8fR0kMCQ_met-coffin-egypt-return-mag.jpg?w=1200 1200w\" alt=\"The Met returned a golden sarcophagus after being presented with evidence that it may have been stolen.\" width=\"862\" height=\"575\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__share-icons\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit-text\">Photo<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__colon\">:\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"c-gallery-vertical-slide__photo-credit\">Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-featured-image__description\">\n<p>In 2018, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AtelierAuctionsg\">Metropolitan Museum<\/a> of Art created an entire exhibition centered around a newly acquired ancient Egyptian sarcophagus from the 1st century B.C.E. that it had bought for nearly $4 million. The next year, the museum was forced to return its prized coffin after being presented with evidence that the provenance they had received with the sale was potentially false. The Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office was able to show that the work was likely looted in Egypt sometime around 2011.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will learn from this event\u2014specifically I will be leading a review of our acquisitions program\u2014to understand what more can be done to prevent such events in the future,\u201d Max Hollein, the Met\u2019s director, said in a statement. In 2020, the Paris dealer who sold the Met the sarcophagus was charged in France with fraud and money laundering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source\uff1ahttps:\/\/www.artnews.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Art theft typically conjures pieces ripped from the walls of world-class museums, and while\u00a0art heists take place frequently, they are not the only means by which priceless treasures are taken. Throughout history, masterpieces have plundered, looted, and stolen, and taken far away from the original locales. For the former owners of such stolen works, getting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13,7,4,3],"tags":[90],"class_list":{"0":"post-304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artist","8":"category-auction","9":"category-events","10":"category-gallery","11":"category-latest-news","12":"tag-museums"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Looting, Plundering, and More: 20 Cultural Treasures That Have Faced Claims of Theft - Investable Art Auctioneer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Art theft typically conjures pieces ripped from the walls of world-class museums, and while art heists take place frequently, they are not the only means by which priceless treasures are taken.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/artist\/looting-plundering-and-more-20-cultural-treasures-that-have-faced-claims-of-theft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looting, Plundering, and More: 20 Cultural Treasures That Have Faced Claims of Theft - 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