Recent Trends in Italian
Restitution Cases
Avv. Giuseppe Calabi
CBM&Partners Studio Legale
gcalabi@cbmlaw.it
www.cbmlaw.it
• 1998 - Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art
• 2009 - Prague Holocaust Era Assets Conference
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a. countries that have made major progress
b. countries that have made substantial progress
c. countries that have taken some steps
d. countries that do not appear to have made significant progress
• 2014 - St Petersburg ICOM Museums and Politics Conference
• 2/3 of signatory countries have done “little or nothing” to implement the
Washington Principles
A. The Calnan Case - a Happy Ending to Owner’s Battle with
the Italian State
Bernardo Strozzi (Genoa 1581 Venice 1644)
Santa Caterina d’Alessandria
oil on canvas 171.5 x 121.5
Charles Alexander Loeser (New
York 1864 - 1928)
Loeser Bequest
Loeser bequeathed a selection of thirty works of art and
furnishings to the Florence City Council, provided that all
the other artistic items in his collection could be exported
from Italy any time during the lifetime of his daughter,
Matilde, or within two years after her death (or his death,
in case he died before she did.)
Villa Torri di Gattaia
13 October 1942 - the Villa and the artworks were seized by the
Fascist Government
In 1944 the Villa was occupied by the Nazi troops and the
Strozzi was “loaned” to Field Marshall Wolfram Freiherr von
Richthofen
 In 2002 the painting resurfaced in Vienna on the
premises of an Austrian collector, who had inherited it
from his father, who had died in 1981.
 In 2008 the painting was consigned to Sotheby’s in
Italy.
Sotheby’s conducted thorough research on the painting’s
provenance, which revealed its history as a stolen piece.
The auction house notified
the Italian police and
contacted Ms. Philippa
Calnan, who is Loeser’s
granddaughter and a former
Director of Public Affairs
at the Getty Trust in Los
Angeles.
“When I first saw the
painting, tears welled up in
my eyes,” says Calnan. “It’s
a big and very beautiful
painting, and I almost felt the
presence of my grandfather
coming down from above and
saying: ‘Now it’s up to you.’”
(Los
Angeles
Times
November 27, 2013)
• 29 October 2008:
cultural interest.
the Italian State declared the painting of
• 5 May 2010: the Italian State denied the export license.
• 16 December 2010: the Administrative Court of Lombardy
(T.A.R. Lombardia) upheld the export license denial, arguing that
the two-year term had elapsed in 2004 (two years after the death
of Loeser’s daughter.)
• 19 February 2013: the Italian State Council (Consiglio di Stato)
reversed the judgment and condemned the Italian State to pay the
plaintiff ’s legal costs.
Italian State Council
The violation by the Italian State of the
fundamental rights of the Loeser family should
have as a consequence that Ms. Calnan be granted
a new term for exporting the painting.
22 November 1913:
Ms. Calnan regained possession of the painting and donated it
to LACMA.
B. The Girolamini Theft - the Fox in the Chicken Coop – Will
the Italian State Ever be Able to Recover 4000 Stolen Books ?
Jean-Baptiste Huet (Paris 1745 –
1811),
Fox in a Chicken Yard
oil on canvas (1766), Fine Arts
Museums, San Francisco
Girolamini Library
(Biblioteca statale oratoriana del
monumento nazionale dei Girolamini)
The oldest library in Naples, founded in 1586.
 Holds 160,000 volumes including 5,000 from the 16th
century and 120 books printed before 1501, known as
incunabili (Italian for “cradles.”)
 The library of choice for
Giambattista Vico (1668-1744)
author of New Science (1725)
The De Caro Plunder
2011:
Mr. Marino Massimo De Caro, a
self-taught bibliophile (without a
college degree) was appointed as
Director of the Girolamini.
• 17 April 2012: De Caro announced that 1500 books were missing.
• 20 April 2012: the library was closed by the Naples Public Prosecutor and De
Caro was suspended and investigated for embezzlement.
• 18 May 2012: 1000 books, 240 of which have ownership stamps from the
Girolamini Library, were found in storage in De Caro’s home city of Verona.
His defense: he had intended to sell the volumes to raise money to maintain the
library.
• 24 May 2012: De Caro was arrested and, on 15 March 2013, condemned by
the Tribunal of Naples to a seven-year imprisonment term commuted to
house arrest because he co-operated with investigators.
“The biggest books scandal to hit in the past 150 or 200 years” (Fabrizio
Govi, President of the Italian Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association)
2012: The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers issued a
warning for buyers and sellers to check any Italian books from the
15th through 17th centuries purchased in the first half of 2012.
A number of stolen items from the library have been confiscated by
the authorities in Munich (16 items), London (28 items), New York
and Tokyo (uncertain numbers.)
Italian Jurisdiction
In August 2103 the German police arrested a rare-book dealer in Munich,
Herbert Schauer of the auction house Zisska & Schauer, specialised in rare
antiquarian books and prints, on charges of complicity in receiving and offering
at auction 543 books stolen from the Girolamini.
Schauer was extradited to Italy and in June 2014 the Tribunal of Naples
condemned Schauer to a 5-year imprisonment term as an accomplice to the
embezzlement carried out by De Caro.
On August 6, 2014 Schauer left Zisska & Schauer. On the same day the company
changed its name to Zisska & Lacher.
□ Avv. Giuseppe Calabi
□ gcalabi@cbmlaw.it
Via Monte Napoleone, 20
20121 Milan
Italy
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Phone +39 0276022178
Fax +39 02782743
www.cbmlaw.it