All posts tagged: Prado

Prado Holds Disputed Velázquez Painting After Court Order in Divorce Case

Prado Holds Disputed Velázquez Painting After Court Order in Divorce Case

Published by José Betancourt

A Spanish judge has ordered the Museo del Prado in Madrid to hold onto a painting attributed to Diego Velázquez at the center of a divorce dispute between steel magnate José María Aristrain and his ex-wife Gema Navarro, according to El País.  The painting ended up at the Prado through a chain of state intervention. After Navarro filed a complaint alleging the work had been wrongly kept from her, a Madrid judge, acting with the support of prosecutors, ordered Spain’s Ministry of Culture to take custody of it citing its potential importance to the country’s historical heritage. The ministry then designated the Prado as custodian. The work was removed from Aristrain’s Madrid residence and transferred to the museum’s storage on March 17, where it will remain until ownership is resolved.  Related Articles At the center of the dispute is a portrait of Philip IV linked to Velázquez’s early years in Madrid. A different version of the composition hangs in the Prado, and scholars have long debated whether this example is an autograph replica. Some experts have pointed to brushwork consistent …

Congress Adopts HEAR Act

Congress Adopts HEAR Act

Published by Jenni Sidey

To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter. The Headlines HEAR, HEAR. The HEAR Act was adopted by the House of Representatives on Monday, and now heads to President Trump for approval, reported the New York Times. The bipartisan bill is designed to make it easier to restitute Nazi-looted artworks by extending the original 2016 act, which expires later this year. However, new amendments to the bill have some worried that it goes too far, making it hard for current owners of potentially looted artworks to fairly defend themselves. Notably, the bill states that looted art should be considered a violation of international law, giving the US legal system jurisdiction in foreign cases. But others see this change as a boon. “It would be a tremendous development,” said Nicholas O’Donnel, who represented the heirs of the disputed Guelph Treasure case. HOCKNEY’S NIGHT AT THE OPERA. Who says opera is not alive and well? David Hockney is turning Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall into a giant, immersive opera house, reports the Guardian. Hockney’s set designs for works …

Prado Director Says Museum Won’t Be Chasing Ever-Growing Visitor Numbers

Prado Director Says Museum Won’t Be Chasing Ever-Growing Visitor Numbers

Published by José Betancourt

The new millennium has seen museums around the world grow—and then grow some more. Institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art are in the midst of sweeping campus reimaginings, while the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston have unveiled major expansions over the past decade. Even the Louvre in Paris, the world’s most visited museum, has floated plans to reconfigure itself. Much of this expansion has been driven not only by the desire to display more of museums’ ever-growing permanent collections, but also by the need to accommodate rising visitor numbers. One major institution, however, has signaled that this approach is no longer a priority. Related Articles At a press conference to unveil the Museo del Prado’s 2026 exhibition schedule, the museum’s director, Miguel Falomir, said that when it came to its visitor figures, he feared the museum was becoming “over-saturated,” according to a report in the Times of London . “The Prado does not need a single …