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”
Category Archives: Regulations
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”
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 