Art News

Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science’s Borrowed Italian painting: ownership dispute

TALLAHASSEE (AP).- A Florida museum said it has been ordered to temporarily hang onto a borrowed 16th Century Italian painting of Christ holding the cross, as U.S. and Italian authorities seek to resolve questions of ownership amid claims the work had been stolen from a Jewish family in World War II. The Baroque painting was one of 50 works lent by a famous Milan museum to the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science in Tallahassee. The work was part of a display in the museum from March until earlier this month. The museum’s chief executive officer Chucha Barber said she was instructed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in July to retain the painting until the ownership issues were resolved. “My initial reaction was that this was an important opportunity for the Brogan