Saturday, January 24 - Sunday, January 25
9:00 am – 5:00 pm (PT)
Join us on campus!
Public fascination with art and heritage theft and destruction is evident from their almost daily coverage by media sources. This course will delve into intriguing legal, ethical, political, historical, cultural, and financial questions about contested art across five subject areas:
(1) The acquisition of art during the Age of Imperialism (from Roman times through World War II)
(2) Holocaust-era art takings
(3) Theft of Indigenous art and heritage
(4) Heists from museums and private collections
(5) The illicit trade and destruction of antiquities
Students will think critically and comparatively about current high-profile stolen art disputes and related issues, including: restitution of the Parthenon Marbles and Benin Bronzes, the evolution in legal and ethical responses to Nazi-looted art, forgery of Indigenous art and its impacts, why and how thieves steal from museums, and causes of and best responses to antiquities looting and destruction.
| Register Today » |
Course Instructor
Stacey JessimanFounder and Principal, Jessiman Law
Stacey Jessiman is an art and heritage, corporate/commercial, and dispute resolution lawyer. She advises museums and claimants on complex legal, ethical, and provenance issues in art restitution and cultural heritage repatriation matters. She has created and taught courses on art and heritage theft and return at Stanford, including “Stolen Art” with Professor John Henry Merryman. She received a BA in art history and international relations from Stanford, a JD from the University of Toronto, and an LLM from the University of British Columbia. She is a member of the arbitration and mediation panels of the Court of Arbitration for Art in the Hague.
Guest Speakers
Richard AronowitzGlobal Head of Restitution, Christie's
Richard Aronowitz’s art world career spans more than three decades. Starting at Bonhams in 1993, he joined Sotheby’s as an impressionist and modern art specialist in 1997 before leaving to become director of the Ben Uri Gallery. He later rejoined Sotheby’s as European head of restitution before joining Christie’s as its global head of restitution. In addition to acting as a member of the UK government’s Spoliation Advisory Panel, he has contributed essays and reviews to the Oxford Companion to Western Art, Insiders/Outsiders, Modern Painters, and The London Magazine and has written a poetry collection and four novels, including Night Comes Down (2025).
Robert WittmanFormer Senior Investigator and Founder, FBI Art Crime Team; President, Robert Wittman Inc.
Robert Wittman joined the FBI as a special agent in 1988, specializing in art and cultural property crime. Over his 20-year career, he recovered more than $300 million in stolen art and cultural property and helped establish the FBI’s Art Crime Team. After retiring, he founded Robert Wittman Inc., a consulting firm that leverages his investigative expertise to protect clients from theft, fraud, and forgery. His firm has provided protection and recovery services to over 100 public and private collections worldwide.