Assume that "Jacob Brown" of England had a painting of one of his
ancestors that was painted by Gainsborough.  If he were to sell the
painting today to an American collector (not likely, but let's pretend),
the English government would most likely not allow it to leave the
country.  The Gainsborough is, under current English cultural heritage
laws, thought to be the patrimony of the English people.  If a previous
"Brown", say in 1885, were to have tried to sell it, it would probably
have been held to be a private transaction and been allowed to leave the
country.

Now, say that "Jacob Brown" had a Caravaggio that had been in his family
for 200 years.  If he were to sell it to an American collector today,
the English government would be hard pressed to call it part of
England's cultural patrimony (although they might try based on its being
part and parcel of an important historic collection of one of England's
premier country estates, if the estate was open to the public for
viewing). If it were going to an American museum, they would have even
less of a case because it would still be available to the public for
viewing. On the other hand, the Italian government, if they could show
that an ancestor of "Jacob Brown" had most likely looted it from their
country, or purchased it from someone who had looted it (perhaps from an
unguarded country church--a clear case of theft in anyone's
viewpoint--you can't get clear title if the object was stolen to begin
with, no matter how many times it was sold) and smuggled it to England,
might be able to intercept the painting and reclaim it, rendering the
sale to the American collector or museum moot.

Julia Muney Moore
Public Art Administrator
Blackburn Architects, Indianapolis, IN
(317) 875-5500 x230
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Indigo Nights
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 4:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Elaborating Further on the Potential Theft

Do the artifacts belong to the country or its people
and, if the latter, only its citizens or all of its
descendants?  Do the ancestors of "Jacob Brown" (made
up name) who reside in England only have the right to
such artifacts, or are they the legacy of all of Jacob
Brown's diaspora? 

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