Three Irish paintings recovered in County Wicklow to be offered at Sotheby's London

Jack Butler Yeats, The Fern in the Area, oil on board. Painted in 1950. Estimate £20,000-30,000. Photo: Sotheby's.

LONDON.- This September, Sotheby’s will offer at auction three Irish paintings recovered in County Wicklow in 2015. The works – Jack Butler Yeats’ The Fern in the Area, Paul Henry’s Landscape with Cottage, and Sir John Lavery’s Portrait de femme au chapeau – come to sale following their theft from a house in Wicklow in 2014 and the subsequent transferral of ownership of the paintings to insurance company Chubb on their recovery last year. With a combined estimated of £47,000-70,000, they will be offered in Sotheby’s Irish Art sale in London on 13 September 2016.

Charlie Minter, Sotheby’s Irish Art Specialist, said: “The remarkable recovery of these paintings has ensured that their fate looks immeasurably brighter and we look forward to finding new homes for them. The Lavery and Henry passed through our doors fifteen years ago and we’re thrilled to be able to offer them at auction again.”

Jack Butler Yeats The Fern in the Area oil on board Painted in 1950 Estimate £20,000-30,000 The art of Jack B. Yeats, arguably the greatest Irish painter of the 20th century, is that of Ireland, and the two are irrevocably entwined. His mature style reached its fullest spate in the 1940s and 1950s, when he was at the height of his powers. The Fern in the Area was painted in 1950 when the artist, although nearing the end of his career, was also at his most prolific, producing some of his most expressive and energetic works. By this time, Yeats had discovered the possibilities of paint as an expressive medium in its own right; his handling was more loose and liquid, and his palette dramatically richer. When turning to pure landscapes without the inclusion of a figure, Yeats’ paintings were often pushed to their most abstract. Although the title hints at the subject – a fern seen by the lower edge – the other details, including the specific location, remain vague, and fused with a rhythm of colour and brushstroke. Such works show Yeats at his freest; rarely working from sketches, he preferred to paint directly and spontaneously onto the surface and to employ an adventurous use of colour, particularly with the primaries, as seen here in the blue, red and yellow.

Paul Henry Landscape with Cottage oil on board Dated 1929-34 on stylistic grounds Estimate £20,000-30,000 Landscape with Cottage dates to circa 1929-34 and exemplifies Henry’s atmospheric portrayal of the West of Ireland for which he is celebrated. A thatched white cottage sits nestled in the hills while voluminous cumulus clouds roll above. The compositional device of devoting the majority of the painting to the sky was a technique favoured by Henry, allowing him to evoke the sense of space and tempestuous weather that defines this rugged landscape. Landscape with Cottage demonstrates Henry’s skill in encapsulating the relationship between the Irish people and their land. The cottage points up the isolation of the rural communities, while their reliance on the land is signified by the turf stack in the foreground. During the late 1920s the artist’s output was dominated by the use of dark umbers and olive greens, colours that convey a sense of the landscape’s solidity. Distinctive of this work is the more varied palette, notably the variations of mauve and yellow, and the more heavily worked surface with strong passages of impasto.

Sir John Lavery Portrait de femme au chapeau oil on panel Estimate £7,000-10,000 Portrait de femme au chapeau dates from the late 1890s, a period when Lavery was travelling regularly to Germany to execute portrait commissions and exhibit at the Eduard Schulte Gallery in Berlin. During this time he would often dedicate and present small sketches to clients, and in some instances, these lively portrait studies were favoured over their more finished versions. As one of the most fashionable painters of the Edwardian and post-war beau monde, Lavery made his name and fortune with his elegant portraits. In this work –showing a sitter set against a dark background – the fluid, confident brushstrokes and subtle, understated colour modulations demonstrate an artist in masterful command of his medium.

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Looted Ancient Sarcophagus

Egyptian Museum staff present the bottom of a looted ancient sarcophagus lid during a ceremony after its repatriation from Israel on June 21, 2016 at the Egyptian Museum in the capital Cairo. Two sarcophagus lids -- one dated to between the 16th and 14th centuries BC and the other between the 10th and 8th -- were delivered to Egypt's ambassador to Israel on May 22, 2016 and returned to Egypt on June 21, 2016. Egypt said the ancient artifactshad have been illegally imported after they were smuggled out of their homeland through a third country.
MOHAMED EL-SHAHED / AFP

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'Argentine' splurges at Nazi relics auction: report

BERLIN (AFP).- A buyer who said he came from Argentina spent over 600,000 euros on Nazi memorabilia, including one of Adolf Hitler's uniform jackets, at a controversial auction in Germany, a report said Monday. The mystery buyer, dressed in dark clothes and wearing a baseball cap, spent 275,000 euros ($312,000) on the jacket alone and 3,000 euros for a set of Hermann Goering's silken underwear, among over 50 items he purchased, reported Bild daily. Using the number "888", the man outbid others on most items and dominated the Munich auction, reported Bild, which had sent an undercover reporter to the event that was formally closed to the press following a public outcry. The number evokes the neo-Nazi code "88" that marks the eighth letter of the alphabet and stands for the banned greeting "Heil Hitler".

Last week the Central Council of Jews in Germany had appealed to the auction house Hermann Historica to cancel the event, charging it was "scandalous and disgusting" to make money with Nazi relics in such an auction. Bild reported that the room was filled with "young couples, elderly men, and muscular guys with shaved heads and tribal tattoos". The top bidder also bought the brass container that Goering, the founder of the Gestapo secret police and air force chief, used to kill himself with hydrogen cyanide two hours before his scheduled execution in 1946 in Nuremberg.

When the Bild reporter asked the top bidder who he was, the man reportedly replied in Spanish-accented English that he came "from Argentina" and had bought the items "for a museum", but declined to give his name. The items -- sold under the theme "Hitler and the Nazi grandees - a look into the abyss of evil" -- were formerly owned by the late US army medic John K. Lattimer, who was in charge of monitoring the health of Nazi war criminals on trial in Nuremberg. German law prohibits the open display and distribution of Nazi objects, slogans and symbols, but not their purchase or ownership, for example by researchers and collectors.

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After 30 years "hidden in plain sight," still life painting is identified as a Gauguin; artwork is highlight of sale

Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903), Fleurs D’Ete Dans Un Gobelet, 1885, oil on canvas, 13 x 9¾ inches (sight), initialed at lower right ‘PG,’ shown in Gauguin catalogue raisonee, authenticated by Wildenstein Institute, est. $800,000-$1.2 million.

LITCHFIELD, CONN.- It’s a scenario every art appraiser and auctioneer dreams of – exploring the contents of a long-held collection and discovering an artwork that is much more important than even its knowledgeable owner initially believed. That was the case when Nick Thorn, president of Litchfield County Auctions & Appraisals, was asked to evaluate estate property that had been amassed over a lifetime by a Manhattan antiques dealer. Within the eclectic selection of artworks, French Empire pieces and midcentury furniture was an appealing little French school still life in an ornate gilt frame.

“It had been quietly displayed on a wall in the owner’s home since the mid-1980s. It was unsigned and had a hard-to-decipher monogram. I was intrigued by it, but the painting wasn’t for sale at the time, so I didn’t spend a lot of thought on it,” Thorn said.

Months later, Thorn was contacted by the painting’s owner and asked if it would be possible to include the artwork in Litchfield’s April auction. The consignment deadline had long since come and gone, but the owner had some enticing new details to share. Upon removing the painting from the wall, he had noticed some labels from Sotheby’s Parke Bernet in Paris that indicated the work was by second-tier Impressionist Paul Signac. Potentially, it could be worth $50,000 to $100,000 at auction.

However, there was a problem – it looked nothing like a Signac and did not appear in the artist’s catalogue raisonne. So Thorn asked his father, Weston Thorn, founder of Litchfield County Auctions; and the company’s other art expert, Tom Curran, to weigh in with their opinions. Upon closer scrutiny, Weston Thorn noticed that the frame was too large for the painting and that it had been fitted with a liner. His opinion was that the identification labels on the frame probably had nothing to do with the painting.

Now their focus shifted to the faint “PS” monogram. Searching through various art databases, the auction-house sleuths could not find any other painters with those initials who painted in that style. “But what if it’s not ‘PS’ at all?” Weston surmised. “What if that ‘S’ is an elongated ‘G’ and it says ‘PG’ – as in Paul Gauguin?” At that point, Curran started looking up Gauguin still lifes and concluded that their painting did, indeed, have a similar look.

After a few months of research – first locating the painting in Gauguin’s catalogue raisonne, then having it authenticated by the Wildenstein Institute – Litchfield County Auctions could confirm without question that they had in their possession a genuine 1885 Paul Gauguin still life. After ensuring the work was not listed in any lost or stolen-art registry, Nick Thorn notified its owner that the painting, which is titled Fleurs D’Ete Dans Un Gobelet (Summer Flowers in a Goblet), would be the centerpiece of their June 29-30 auction.

An exciting discovery, the Gauguin painting has been given an auction estimate of $800,000-$1.2 million. It will share the spotlight with other prestigious consignments: a select grouping of Picasso ceramics, a top-tier collection of European furniture and decorative art; a well-refined collection of religious icons, reliquaries and Russian icons; tribal art, and a collection of antique occupational shaving mugs. Examples of 18th-century Queen Anne furniture include a mahogany and walnut highboy, est. $2,000-$4,000, and an oak dressing table, $800-$1,200. Also, a Victorian papier-mache terrestrial globe that would enhance any traditional study or office was produced in London in 1842 and is entered with a $1,500-$2,500 estimate.

Leading the Asian decorative art highlights is a pair of stunning 19th-century Chinese bottle-shape porcelain vases that have been repurposed as lamps, as was the fashion in the early 20th century. The lamps are offered as one lot with an $8,000-$12,000 estimate.

A collection of five pieces of Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) pottery includes several designs collectors seek but do not often encounter in the auction marketplace. A 1954 pitcher in the form of a woman’s head crowned with flowers could realize $10,000-$15,000; while two lots are entered with individual estimates of $8,000-$12,000. They are: a 1954 “Scene de Tauromachie” bowl, and a 1948 “Three Sardines” rectangular dish. A 1955 “Femme” earthenware pitcher that was illustrated in Alain Ramie’s respected reference Picasso: Catalogue of the Edited Ceramic Works 1947-1971 is expected to make $8,000-$10,000.

A single-owner collection of religious icons, reliquaries and effigies features a Russian icon of Christ in the temple in Jerusalem with three archangels watching from above, $2,000-$3,000; and several French 19th-century Santibelli saint figures offered in small groupings. Among the many three-dimensional depictions are The Virgin of Marseilles, St. Christopher with the Christ Child, St. Philomena with an anchor, and St. Agnes with a palm branch. Each of the lots is estimated at $600-$900.

Litchfield County Auctions’ Wed./Thurs. June 29-30, 2016 auction will start at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on both days. The gallery is located at is located at 425 Bantam Rd., Litchfield, CT 06759. The preview will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 24-28, inclusive. For additional information on any item in the auction, call 860-567-4661 or email sales@litchfieldcountyauctions.com.

All forms of bidding will be available, including absentee or live via the Internet through www.LiveAuctioneers.com. http://artdaily.com/news/88218/After-30-years--hidden-in-plain-sight---still-life-painting-is-identified-as-a-Gauguin--artwork-is-highlight-of-sale#.V2gRNKLN6sk

Picassos settle sculpture custody battle in New York

The sculpture in question, the 1931 "Buste de Femme (Marie-Therese)," was last seen in public at New York's Museum of Modern Art earlier this year.

NEW YORK (AFP).- An international custody battle for a Picasso sculpture worth more than $100 million has been settled in favor of a New York billionaire, forcing the artist's family to pay agents of the Qatari royal family. The out-of-court deal required Pablo Picasso's heirs to make an undisclosed payment to London-based agents Pelham Europe, who initially negotiated to buy the sculpture for $47 million on behalf of their Qatari clients. A family dispute prompted the Picassos to renege on the deal and sell the sculpture to New York art dealer Larry Gagosian for more than $100 million instead. The Gagosian Gallery then sold it to billionaire Leon Black for an undisclosed sum.

The sculpture in question, the 1931 "Buste de Femme (Marie-Therese)," was last seen in public at New York's Museum of Modern Art earlier this year. The tortured legal dispute involved courts in France, Switzerland and the United States, exposing a damaging breakdown in communications and bitter rivalry among the descendants of one of the 20th century's greatest artists. The parties said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they were "pleased" to have reached "a good faith global settlement" resolving the dispute in all courts for good.

The Gagosian Gallery said the settlement was "a complete vindication" of its position and that Black would now receive his sculpture. "The Gagosian Gallery purchased and sold this sculpture in good faith and without any knowledge of Picasso and Pelham's prior dealings, as we have said all along," it said in a statement. Pelham Europe had gone to court seeking damages from Gagosian and Picasso's granddaughter Diana Widmaier-Picasso. The agents' lawyers confirmed Wednesday that Maya Widmaier-Ruiz Picasso, Picasso's daughter whose mother is depicted in the sculpture, had settled. "The amount of the payment is confidential, but Pelham and its client are very happy with the settlement," they said in a statement. They had claimed that Maya agreed to sell the sculpture to Pelham in November 2014 for $47 million to go on public display in a Qatar museum. But she pulled out of the deal days before the final payment was due.

Pelham alleged that her daughter, Diana, had objected to the deal and negotiated the Gagosian sale in May 2015. The settlement heads off a trial scheduled for September. Forbes magazine estimates Black, a private equity magnate, to be worth $4.7 billion. He reportedly bought Edvard Munch's "The Scream," which fetched $120 million at auction in 2012, a world record at the time.

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Hundreds of ancient Artifacts that were traded without a license were seized during a raid

In the coming days an indictment will be filed against the store owner who is suspected of illicit trade in antiquities.

JERUSALEM.- Bronze arrowheads, coins bearing the names of the Hasmoneans rulers, special vessels for storing perfumes and hundreds of items that are thousands of years old were offered for sale in a store in the Mamilla Mall, which was not licensed to trade antiquities. All of these items were seized yesterday (Tuesday) during an operation carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery. The raid took place after the store, which was under surveillance, sold ancient artifacts to undercover Antiquities Authority investigators.

New regulations have been in force since March 2016 requiring that Israeli antiquities dealers manage their commercial inventory using a computerized system developed by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The move, which will allow the tracking of the items, is designed to prevent antiquities dealers from "laundering" illegal artifacts that are the product of antiquities robbery, namely the illicit excavation of archaeological sites that eradicate knowledge about the country’s and the world’s cultural heritage solely for the purpose of profit. The souvenir shop was selling antiquities at the prestigious mall even though it had not obtained a license to do so.

According to Dr. Eitan Klein, supervisor in charge of the antiquities trade, at the IAA, “Prior to enacting the regulations the situation with the ancient market was nothing short of miraculous, whereby there was always an abundance of finds on the shelves. Yet the dealers were constantly bemoaning the fact that sales were extremely weak. These reports raise questions about the remarkable survival of these stores for decades. In practice, it was abundantly clear that in order to supply the merchandise antiquities sites in Israel and around the world were being plundered and history was sold to the highest bidder. The activity we carried out in the Mamilla store is just part of much broader effort being made in the antiquities market that is aimed at preserving the cultural heritage of the State of Israel, which belongs to all of its citizens, and preventing the "laundering" of stolen antiquities by manipulating the commercial inventory of authorized antiquities dealers ".

In the coming days an indictment will be filed against the store owner who is suspected of illicit trade in antiquities.

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Graffiti 'artist' who tagged national parks pleads guilty

Among the parks targeted by Nocket, who went by the nickname "Creepytings," was Death Valley National Park in California. Photo: Brocken Inaglory / Wikipedia.org.

LOS ANGELES (AFP).- A California woman who defaced some of America's most iconic landmarks in the name of art pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to two years' probation and 200 hours of community work. Casey Nocket, 23, of San Diego, had documented her exploits on social media as she traveled the country in 2014 and over a 26-day period damaged rock formations at seven national parks by drawing or painting on them with acrylic paint and markers.

"The defendant's defacement of multiple rock formations showed a lack of respect for the law and our shared national treasures," prosecutor Phillip Talbert said in a statement. "The National Park Service has worked hard to restore the rock formations to their natural state, completing clean-up efforts in five of the seven parks." Among the parks targeted by Nocket, who went by the nickname "Creepytings," was Death Valley National Park in California, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Authorities said a court hearing will be held at a later day to determine the amount of money Nocket will be required to pay in restitution.

The graffiti artist was nabbed as she had proudly documented her crimes on Instagram, for all to see. Her account on the photo-sharing website was deleted following an outcry, but not before various media outlets got hold of it, publishing exchanges in which she shamelessly defends her work. "It's art, not vandalism. I am an artist," she wrote at the time, cited by The Denver Post. The case also prompted a White house petition demanding she be prosecuted with more than 10,000 people signing the document.

"This case illustrates the important role that the public can play in identifying and sharing evidence of illegal behavior in parks," said Charles Cuvelier, chief of law enforcement for the National Park Service. "It is clear that the public cares deeply for the special places that the National Park Service represents, and the resolution of this case sends a message to those who would consider such inappropriate behavior going forward."

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Turkey police seize 'Kadhafi's dagger' in Istanbul: report

Gaddafi at the twelfth African Union conference in 2009. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jesse B. Awalt/Released - This Image was released by the United States.

ANKARA (AFP).- Turkish police have seized a jewel-encrusted ivory dagger said to have belonged to Libya's late leader Moamer Kadhafi and which was going to be sold for millions of dollars on the black market, Anadolu news agency reported. Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a house of a businessman in the Esenyurt neighbourhood of Istanbul on the European side of the city and confiscated the artefact, the state-run agency said late Monday. The dagger, studded with sapphires, emeralds and diamonds, was looted from Kadhafi's palace during the Libyan revolution, it added.

The businessman planned to sell the dagger on the black market to a Saudi businessmen in Istanbul, it said. Anadolu quoted officials as saying the Istanbul businessman paid $4.6 million (4.09 million euros) for the dagger, which was purchased from Libya nearly three months ago. The suspect was detained while trying to sell it to the Saudi businessman for $10 million, it said. Police detained two other accomplices, according to the agency. They were released pending trial.

Anadolu published an image of the seized artefact showing the finely-crafted dagger embossed with gold and jewels supported on a stand and flanked by two white lions. Istanbul is a hub for the smuggling of valuable art works and antiques but Turkish police regularly claim success in seizing valuable artefacts that are about to be sold illegally. Since Kadhafi's killing in 2011, Libya has descended into near-anarchy, ruled by rival militias vying for power while the Islamic State group has gained influence in the country.

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Athens to hide sculptures after busts go missing

Tourists take pictures in front of the Athens Academy adorned with sculputures depicting ancient greek philosophers , Plato (L) and Sokrates (R) on June 10, 2016. Athens is to store away dozens of outdoor sculptures after five brass busts went missing last month and a marble statue was vandalised in the area. "We have pinpointed 49 sculptures that are in a vulnerable position," Mayor Yiorgos Kaminis told a news conference on June 9. Officials suspect the five brass busts of early 20th century Greek poets and writers were removed by smelters as a number of pavement curb box covers, which give access to utility pipes and wiring, have recently disappeared. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / AFP.

ATHENS (AFP).- Athens is to store away dozens of outdoor sculptures after five brass busts went missing last month and a marble statue was vandalised, officials have said. "We have pinpointed 49 sculptures that are in a vulnerable position," Mayor Yiorgos Kaminis told a news conference on Thursday. "We are examining the temporary withdrawal of some (of them) and their replacement with copies." Officials suspect the five brass busts of early 20th century Greek poets and writers were removed by smelters as a number of pavement curb box covers, which give access to utility pipes and wiring, have recently disappeared.

Authorities have in recent years struggled to restore many of the capital's 200 or so outdoor sculptures from recurring vandalism. A statue that had its limbs and head smashed in April near the city centre had just been cleaned up with EU funds, Kaminis said.

A woman reads on a bench next to a bust of a former Greek professor and prime minister tagged by an anarchistic symbol by the Athens Academy on June 10, 2016. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / AFP.

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Modigliani owner denies canvas taken from Jewish dealer

"Seated Man With A Cane", a portrait of a man with a moustache, hat and cane.

GENEVA (AFP).- The owner of a Modigliani painting allegedly looted by the Nazis has insisted there is no proof it was taken from a Jewish art dealer, after the Panama Papers leak led to it being briefly seized. Authorities in Geneva sequestered the painting in April after the release of millions of documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed the identity of the portrait's current owner, billionaire art dealer David Nahmad, through his offshore company.

Swiss authorities looked into the case before indicating last month that the painting, worth an estimated $25 million, could be returned to Nahmad. Mondex Corp, a Canadian group that helps track looted assets, says the work belonged to British art dealer Oscar Stettiner, a Jew who fled Paris in 1939 prior to the Nazi occupation. But Nahmad, who is himself Jewish and says he could never accept art looted by the Nazis, says there is no concrete evidence that Stettiner was ever robbed of the work, or even owned it. According to documents given to AFP by Nahmad's associates, a Modigliani self-portrait was mentioned in a 1947 legal claim to three works owned by Stettiner in the aftermath of the Allied liberation of Paris. But the 1918 work owned by Nahmad -- "Seated Man with a Cane", which shows a mustachioed figure in a suit and hat -- is not considered a self-portrait.

Mondex, convinced that Stettiner's Modigliani is the one currently in Nahmad's possession, has since 2011 been appealing to US authorities to help the late Briton's grandson get it back. But US authorities struggled to determine the identity of the current owner. The Nahmad family told a US court they were not the owners, and that it belonged to the International Art Center, a company set up by Mossack Fonseca. But the leak revealed that Nahmad was the sole owner of the company. Nahmad and his family, based in New York, have made a fortune from art-dealing and currently own around 4,500 pieces, including 300 Picassos worth at least $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

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National Gallery of Denmark removes 'negro' in titles

The old building / J. V. Dahlerup. Photo: Ida Tietgen Høyrup.

COPENHAGEN (AFP).- The National Gallery of Denmark said Tuesday it was removing the word "negro" from titles and descriptions of artwork, prompting criticism that it was trying to rewrite history. The Copenhagen museum said the words "negro" and "Hottentot" -- a derogatory name for the Khoikhoi ethnic group -- would be removed from 14 works, as they reflected the language used during colonial times. "At the time, it was the word that was used (but) you no longer do," the art museum's head of collections and research, Peter Norgaard Larsen, told AFP. The two words would be replaced by either a nationality or a mention saying the person depicted was of African descent. "We continually change the titles of our works. They are always being revised ... so that we address the audience in a language corresponding to the time we are living in," he added. Original titles by an artist however will not be changed.

A spokesman for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP) blasted the move, saying it was "stupid" and "unhistorical". "It makes our ancestors (look) better than they were," he told Danish news agency Ritzau. "If you are to take history seriously, you should obviously show that they used the term that we, for various reasons, do not use," he added. Naser Khader, a Syria-born lawmaker for the Conservative People's Party, accused the museum of "cleansing history." Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum took similar steps to remove racially offensive terms from titles and descriptions last year.

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Two important Old Master paintings recovered by the Art Loss Register

Aniello Falcone (1607-1656), Battle scene, oil on canvas, 150 x 205 cm.

Detail of Workshop of Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632), Concert with four people and a drinker, oil on canvas, 103 x 148 cm.

LONDON.- The Art Loss Register has recovered two large Old Master paintings, both of which were stolen in Rome in 1994: one from the former Senator and Prime Minister of the Italian State (1970-1972) Emilio Colombo, the other from the office of an accountant. These two works are the largest to be recovered by the ALR in the company’s 25-year history.

The close partnership between the Art Loss Register and the Italian Carabinieri High Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in this case was essential to ensuring a successful outcome for these two masterpieces, and for the victims of the original crimes. Chief Marshal Salvatore Simone and Adjutant Marshal Antonio Ammendola of the Carabinieri expressed their ‘thanks to the Art Loss Register for their indispensable collaboration, as well as the professionalism and expertise they demonstrated in the identification and subsequent return of these two paintings stolen in Rome’.

The paintings were both stolen in 1994, but it was not until December 2014 when a private individual searched both paintings against the Art Loss Register database that a positive match was made. The Art Loss Register’s research revealed that the paintings corresponded to two losses reported by the Carabinieri in Rome. The Carabinieri confirmed to the Art Loss Register that the works had never been recovered and were keen to secure their return to Italy.

The team at the Art Loss Register made further enquiries into the location of the works, and was staggered to discover that they were located in a storage vault just a few hundred metres from its London offices in Hatton Garden.

The Art Loss Register informed the current owner, who had no link to the theft, that the paintings were stolen. In an act of goodwill, he swiftly surrendered the pictures and relinquished all rights to the works.

The Art Loss Register has since been working closely with the Carabinieri to arrange for the shipping of these works back to Italy. The size and condition of the paintings made this a tricky undertaking. The shipping took place during the last week of May. The paintings will now need to undergo relining and restoration before being returned to their rightful owners, since the old canvases were severely damaged by the thefts.

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Malaysian artist charged for depicting PM as clown

Fahmi Reza poses with his caricature of Prime Minister Najib Razak. Photo: Facebook / Fahmi Reza.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP).- A Malaysian graphic artist was charged Monday with violating multimedia laws by caricaturing Prime Minister Najib Razak as a sinister clown to protest at allegations of massive corruption. Fahmi Reza's depictions of Najib went viral earlier this year, and posters and stickers bearing the images have also appeared in public places, earning the designer-activist comparisons to street-art provocateurs like Banksy. He was charged under a section of Malaysian communications and multimedia laws that forbid disseminating online content deemed to "annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass" others. Fahmi, 38, faces a possible one-year prison sentence and 50,000 ringgit ($12,200) fine, said his attorney, Syahredzan Johan. "This is essentially criminalising (free) expression," said Syahredzan. Fahmi pleaded not guilty after the charge was read out in court. Syahredzan said police were also investigating him for sedition. In a Facebook posting Monday, Fahmi vowed to "defend my rights to criticise the corrupt rulers by using art as a weapon".

Fahmi was warned by police previously to stop posting the images, which show Najib in powder-white clown make-up, evilly arched eyebrows and a garish blood-red mouth. Najib is battling accusations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state-owned development fund he oversees, and is under pressure for accepting a mysterious $681 million overseas payment. Najib denies accusations that the huge payment was siphoned from the struggling fund. But he has fuelled anger by curbing investigations, purging government figures who have demanded transparency and clamping down on media reporting of the affair. Even before the corruption allegations emerged a year ago, Najib's government had moved to silence critics following a 2013 election setback. Dozens of government opponents including opposition politicians have been investigated for, or charged with, a range of offences over the past three years, typically sedition. The campaign has drawn growing warnings from international human rights groups that free expression and democratic rights in Malaysia are under severe threat.

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse http://artdaily.com/news/87864/Malaysian-artist-charged-for-depicting-PM-as-clown#.V1b9U-TN6sk

"Better Safe Than Sorry" - Flood shuts Paris Musee d'Orsay until Tuesday

A photo taken on June 3, 2016 shows boxes containing valuable artworks from the Louvre reserves stored among statues in one of the museum's rooms of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities after they were evacuated from the basement following days of heavy rains which led the River Seine to reach its highest level in three decades. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP.

PARIS (AFP).- The world-famous Musee d'Orsay in Paris will be closed until Tuesday due to the flooding of the Seine river, it announced on Friday. The museum, which houses a world-renowned collection of 19th and early 20th century art, was shut on Thursday evening as concerns grew about the rising water levels. Sitting alongside the river in a renovated train station, the museum is one of the highlights of Paris, welcoming some 3.4 million visitors last year.

The most-visited tourist spot in the city, the Louvre museum, which attracts some nine million visitors per year, was also closed on Friday to allow staff to move artworks stored in its underground vaults to higher floors. Managers were set to decide later in the day when it would re-open. The Museum of Decorative Arts, next door to the Louvre, remained open but also took measures to protect items stored in its basements.

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Precious United States stamp "Inverted Jenny" found six decades after its theft

A rare stamp known as an "Inverted Jenny" is displayed at the World Stamp Show in Manhattan on June 2, 2016 in New York City. The stamp, one of the most famous stamps in American history, was stolen from a display case at a convention in 1955 and only located last March. The stamp, which features an airplane printed upside-down, only surfaced at a New York auction house in April when an Irish man who had inherited it brought it in. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP.

NEW YORK (AFP).- A rare US stamp known as the "Inverted Jenny" has been recovered 61 years after its theft. The stamp was officially donated Thursday to the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL), according to a release from the US Attorney's office in New York. The Inverted Jenny stamp came from a sheet of 100 stamps printed in 1918, and gained fame for being misprinted upside down. The sheet was later broken up and individual stamps sold to collectors. The stamp has an image of the Curtiss Jenny JN-4HM biplane modified for shuttling mail. It com

memorated the US Postal Service's first airmail flight on May 15, 1918, with a value of 24 cents per stamp. On Thursday, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara announced the return of one of the stolen stamps. Investigators recovered the stamp after the Spink auction house in New York alerted authorities that an individual had tried to sell the stamp. The owner Keelin O'Neill assured the FBI during questioning that he had inherited the "Inverted Jenny" from his grandfather, now deceased. O'Neill agreed to relinquish the stamp to authorities once he learned it was stolen.

The returned stamp is one of four from a block stolen from collector Ethel B. Stewart McCoy in 1955. Three of the four stamps stolen from McCoy -- who died in 1980 -- are entrusted to the APRL. The fourth is still missing. At a Robert A. Siegel auction on Tuesday in New York, an Inverted Jenny stamp from the original sheet of 100 sold for $1.2 million to a private buyer.

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