Spain’s Prado Museum on Tuesday published a list of 25 artworks seized during the 1936-39 civil war and under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, and announced a research project that could lead to the works being returned to their legitimate owners.

Among the works are paintings by 17th century Flemish artist Jan Brueghel the Younger and Spanish impressionist Joaquin Sorolla, according to the list.

The two centuries-old museum said in a statement it had set up a research team to study the 25 oeuvres and determine if there are other works that were also confiscated.

“The project aims to clarify any doubts that may exist regarding the works’ history and context prior to their cession to the Prado’s collections, which, in fulfillment of all legal requirements, may result in works being returned to their legitimate owners,” it said.

The findings of the research, to be led by senior professor and expert on cultural heritage and the Civil War Arturo Colorado, are expected by early 2023.

More than half a million people died during the Spanish Civil War and an estimated 150,000 were killed later in repression by Franco’s 1939-75 dictatorship, historians estimate.

None of the works on the list are on display at the museum that is part of Madrid’s “Golden Triangle of art” along with the Reina Sofia and Thyssen galleries. One of the capital’s most famous landmarks, the Prado contains over 7,000 of the world’s finest paintings and other works of art.

The death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has collectors scrambling to secure rare coins and bills bearing her likeness, even as her portrait is set to remain in circulation for years to come on money throughout the Commonwealth.

Coin dealers say demand for rare-issue notes and coins – such as a pre-World War II Canadian US$20 bill featuring Elizabeth as a child or Australia’s Platinum Jubilee 50-cent coin – has surged since the queen died in Scotland on Sept. 8.

Queries have been coming in from both seasoned collectors and novices eager to commemorate the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, who appears on a record 33 currencies around the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

“There’s been an incredible upsurge in demand,” said Peter Hutchison, heritage coin specialist at Hattons of London, adding he is fielding queries from as far away as Australia.

In highest demand are limited-issue coins that were sold to collectors in the first place. Prices are rising as seasoned numismatists try to fill gaps in their collections and newcomers join in, said Hutchinson.

Craig Stapleton, the former US Ambassador to France, is suing the chief executive of the French auction house Tajan, Rodica Seward, over allegedly withholding a group of 24 of his paintings that she was tapped to resell as part of a deal with the 77-year-old collector.

Stapleton hired Seward in 2010 to secure third-party buyers for the group of paintings he purchased from the auction house, according to a complaint filed by Stapleton’s attorneys with a Paris court. Seward agreed to buy the works from Stapleton.

The documents state that Stapleton agreed to split profits with Seward from the works after recouping the original purchase price. Stapleton claims that Seward failed to sell the works according to their agreement and is withholding information on where the works are currently being stored.

According to court files, Stapleton acquired 32 paintings through Seward between 2011 and 2016, including works by Amy Sillman, Richard Aldrich, Sadie Benning, Farah Attasi and Allison Katz. For 24 of those works, worth a collective €715,886 ($715,474), Seward has allegedly failed to address Stapleton’s requests to begin the resale process or ship the paintings to the US.

In an email to Seward dated from September 2017, Stapleton wrote that as of that month he’d invested a total of $850,000 in the deal and stated that he was “anxious to have a liquidation strategy.” Stapleton is in possession of the remaining eight works he purchased within the five year period.

Between 2019 and 2021, Seward was unable to sell the works despite exchanges in person and via email about the resales. Seward claimed in an email in June 2021 that she’d been clear with the collector about the sales being “a very long-term project.”

In March, Stapleton’s attorney sent a letter to Seward demanding the paintings be returned. In response Seward offered to return only a portion of the group of works, keeping others “as compensation,” for costs related to transportation, storage, framing, and insurance. She asked for an additional sum of €369,380 ($368,870) as reimbursement.

In June, Stapleton’s attorney sent another letter to Seward’s attorney to request the location of the paintings and that a date for their return be set within eight days. Following the request, Stapleton learned that one of the works, Melancholic Interior (2010-2011) by Ioana Batranu, had put up for sale on Tajan’s website. His attorneys were subsequently granted a request for authorities to search Seward’s residence and Tajan offices for the works. Seward has refused to disclose where the paintings are located.

This is not the first time Seward has faced a lawsuit over withholding artworks from consignors. In 2021, Seward and Tajan were accused of planning to sell a drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci in agreement with the Musée du Louvre. Seward was accused of failing to notify the owner of the work of a 30-month French export ban on the sale. She refused the owner’s request to return the work.

Almine Rech, a prominent gallery with seven spaces spread across Paris, Brussels, London, Shanghai, and New York, is set to open a second Manhattan venue, this one in the burgeoning Tribeca neighborhood.

Almine Rech will join a mass of galleries that have opened spaces there in the past few years, making Tribeca one of the fastest growing—and most closely watched—art districts in New York.

The new 10,000-square-foot space will be located at 361 Broadway, putting it not far from galleries like Andrew Kreps, P.P.O.W, Bortolami, and spaces run by Pace and David Zwirner. Almine Rech said it would continue to operate its Upper East Side space as well. Housed within a building that was renovated by architect Shigeru Ban, the Tribeca gallery will open in 2023.

“Tribeca was already on our radar since we started considering an expansion but, ultimately, it was feedback from our artists that solidified our location choice,” said Paul de Froment, a New York–based managing partner at the gallery, said in a statement.

Among the artists who are on Almine Rech’s extensive roster are Genieve Figgis, Alex Israel, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Sam McKinniss, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Peter Saul, and Chloe Wise.

The Nigerian Official Selection Committee for the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences has announced that it will not be submitting a movie for the 2023 Oscars.

The Chairperson of NOSC, Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi, who communicated the development to the AMPAS, expressed regret that the committee could not find a film suitable for the award.

A statement sent to newsmen, “Although the committee received three epic films following its call for submissions in August, it turned out that none of them will advance to the next stage owing to the voting patterns of members.”

In a session that lasted two hours on September 3, 2023, the NOSC recorded a voting chart of ‘8:5:1:1’ from its 15 members- with ‘no film is eligible’ taking the lead.

This is the second year in a row that Nigeria would not be submitting a film for the International Feature Film category of the Oscars, the last submission being ‘The Milkmaid’ in 2020.

Anyaene-Abonyi said, “Nigerian films had, no doubt, improved significantly as the awareness of the requirements has since grown among filmmakers, and potentially soon, we just might be bringing this award home in succession.”

However, she implored filmmakers to “get more acquainted with Oscars-nominated films in the IFF category to achieve the needed international recognition and put our films in its acclaimed level of creative discourse”.

The Academy annually presents the IFF award to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States of America that contains 50 percent or more non-English dialogue.