[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mucem.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tGood Morning!<\/p>\n
BEATEN TO THE PUNCH.\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0Manhattan District Attorney<\/strong>\u2018s office seized dozens of ancient artifacts in June from the\u00a0Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/strong>, bringing the total value of looted objects recovered from the New York institution to $95 million, the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/strong>. Paradoxically, the museum has characterized the seizures as a collaborative effort in sharing provenance information with investigators, pointing to the fact that it agreed to part with the items rather than categorically refuse an official demand to hand over stolen art. The Met has also expanded its in-house provenance research team. Yet, as\u00a0Matthew Bogdanos<\/strong>, head of the\u00a0Antiquities Trafficking Unit<\/strong>, noted in a statement, the museum\u2019s \u201ccollaborative\u201d framing contradicts the very notion of a police seizure\u2014the bureau has also grown frustrated at the slow pace of the Met\u2019s provenance review. The high number of seizures \u201cspoke for themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cThe question has to be asked, \u2018Why are we the ones doing this?’\u201d Meanwhile, the Met\u2019s head of provenance research,\u00a0Lucian Simmons<\/strong>, insists: \u201cThe Met doesn\u2019t want any stolen art in our collection.\u201d Among the seized items are antiquities from Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and elsewhere, ranging in value from $20,000 to $26 million.<\/p>\n OLD MASTERS MAGIC<\/strong>.\u00a0Christie\u2019s Old Masters<\/strong>\u00a0sale in London totaled $48.7 million on Tuesday, as the house\u00a0tested<\/strong>the running mantra that \u201ccollectors will open their hearts and their wallets for exceptional work.\u201d Thanks to competition over a handful of standout works and relatively few disappointments, the sale managed to surpass its pre-sale estimates of between \u00a325 million and \u00a337.5 million, excluding fees. Leading lots included sumptuous still lifes of overflowing fruit by\u00a0Jan van Huysum\u00a0<\/strong>and a Thomas Lawrence\u00a0<\/strong>portrait of the Duke of Wellington. The night\u2019s biggest surprise, however, came from an anonymous Dutch School painting\u2014a haunting 17th-century vanitas still life depicting two skulls on a marble ledge\u2014estimated at \u00a380,000 to \u00a3120,000. It fetched \u00a3431,800 (about $572,500), hinting that collectors are hoping for a future attribution.<\/p>\n \n\tCanadian politician\u00a0Avi Lewis (New Democratic Party)\u00a0<\/strong>has accused\u00a0Heritage Minister Marc Miller<\/strong>\u00a0of interfering with the independence of the\u00a0Canadian Museum for Human Rights<\/strong> exhibition about Palestinian displacement. [CBC<\/strong>]<\/p>\n Pierre-Olivier Costa<\/strong>, the president of Marseille\u2019s\u00a0Mus\u00e9e des civilisations de l\u2019Europe et de la M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e (MuCEM)<\/strong>, was suspended for four months following an investigation for psychological and sexual harassment and a preliminary investigation opened by the Marseille prosecutor\u2019s office. [Le Monde<\/strong>]<\/p>\n \n\tPrized 4th-century Etruscan frescoes that were first discovered in a tomb in 1857, and recently acquired by Italy for $17 million, just went on display in Rome\u2019s\u00a0Villa Giulia National Etruscan Museum<\/strong>. [Associated Press<\/strong>]<\/p>\n \n\tThe\u00a0Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB)<\/strong>\u00a0has just announced the names of a second cohort of 27 artists participating in its fifth edition, titled \u201cAngels and Mara\u201d from October 29, 2026 to February 28, 2027. [ArtAsiaPacific<\/strong>]<\/p>\n BANKSY, IS THAT YOU?<\/strong>\u00a0A possible mural by the famously elusive street artist\u00a0Banksy<\/strong>\u00a0may have just popped up on the UK\u2019s Hove seafront,\u00a0reports\u00a0<\/strong>the\u00a0Independent<\/em>. The artwork was first spotted on Monday, not far from the beach, and it shows a kneeling police officer spray-painting a large, dripping heart made out of chains. For now, the waiting game is on to see if Banksy himself will confirm that he is behind the mural, a move he usually makes on social media or his website. But locals are divided. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice piece, but it\u2019s definitely by an amateur, it\u2019s smudged from the stencils, zero shading, and it\u2019s not crisp,\u201d writes one Banksy fan on\u00a0Facebook<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/marseille-museum-president-suspended-harassment-investigation-1234790928\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mucem.jpg?w=1024″] Good Morning! The Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s office seized dozens of ancient artifacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in June, bringing the total value of looted objects recovered from the New York institution to $95 million. Christie\u2019s Old Masters sale in London totaled $48.7 million on Tuesday. A Canadian politician has accused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2021529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2021529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2021529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2021529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2021529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\t\tThe Digest\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\tThe Digest\t<\/h2>\n