The year 2020 saw the passing of two enormous forces in the arts and antiquities exchange – Paolo Giorgio Ferri, and Douglas Latchford. What can the general public learn from such opposing legacies? In 2008, Paolo Giorgio Ferri brought the Euphronios krater home to Italy – thus ending the country’s thirty-year dispute with New York’sContinueContinue reading “Conflict of interests: Paolo Giorgio Ferri vs. Douglas Latchford”
Author Archives: Kristen Scott
“They had it coming”
The good cause, the bad delivery, and the ugly soup spills Youth activists with the “Just Stop Oil” movement continue to make headlines for staging demonstrations across Europe. First drumming up the mainstream controversy was a can of tomato soup thrown at Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers in London, and just yesterday Vermeer’s Girl With AContinueContinue reading ““They had it coming””
Loopholes and laundering: when free trade turns nefarious
Buying and selling art has long stood as a pastime for the elite – and in the case of multi-million dollar transactions, one could argue it’s a sport of its own. And it’s certainly competitive. Even the most prestigious auctions are merely a race measured in time, taste, and resources; and we can imagine thatContinueContinue reading “Loopholes and laundering: when free trade turns nefarious”
Notre-Dame: Making a case for replication
British architect Karl Singporewala writes his take for Architects’ Journal: “Replicating Notre-Dame’s spire is wrong.” We all watched in horror when Notre-Dame burned last spring. We saw the bright blaze tear through her center and force panicked plumes of smoke every direction – they’re tragic images one can scarcely forget in a lifetime. The embersContinueContinue reading “Notre-Dame: Making a case for replication”
Underground in plain sight
Theft and obfuscation are open secrets in the antiquities exchange. With more calls than ever for restitution, how can we make sure to place artifacts most responsibly? An unfortunate preface to this conversation: when an item of historical significance is procured by theft at any point in time, it becomes a statistic in this problem.ContinueContinue reading “Underground in plain sight”
Too many restorations are botched
And too few of us are taking this seriously. Last week may have surprised you with the news that Bartolome Murillo’s rendition of the Virgin Mary is now utterly disfigured. To some others, this came as almost no surprise at all. Shown at left: “The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial” by Bartolome Esteban Murillo; theContinueContinue reading “Too many restorations are botched”
Present Preservation 