Author: Juan A. Esteban
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A Ceruti above a green sofa
A house in Mar del Plata is put up for sale. The estate agent photographs the rooms and publishes the images on the internet and, in one of them, an antique portrait of a lady appears hanging above a green sofa. It was easy for it to go unnoticed by anyone looking at the house, but Dutch journalists who were investigating…
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No one erased the signature
Much of the software we use is written by programmers who publish their code under open licences. A frequent condition of these licences is that copies and derivative works must retain the licence, the author's name, and the copyright notice. Attribution is part of the exchange that allows for the reuse of code. A group of…
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At the Met, to examine was also to honour
El Metropolitan Museum of Art anunció el 31 de julio de 2026 «John Galliano: Horizons», una exposición del Costume Institute prevista del 9 de mayo de 2027 al 9 de enero de 2028. Iba a coincidir con la Met Gala y habría sido la primera gran muestra museística dedicada al conjunto de su trayectoria. Un…
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Images of public domain works: what is free and what may be charged for
What happens to a faithful reproduction of a visual work in the public domain, what museums and image banks may charge for, and how to find files that are genuinely reusable.
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My work has been copied: how to document it and the available avenues
What to do if you find a copy of your work: how to preserve evidence, check the rights involved and choose between direct contact, the platform, the administrative route or legal action.
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How to authorise the reproduction of a work
What an authorisation should specify when the image of a work is used in a catalogue, in the press, on a website, in advertising or on a product.
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From cases to guides
In this Notebook, I have written about specific cases: the Hamburg ruling that found in favour of LAION against the photographer Robert Kneschke, the United States Supreme Court ruling on the 2016 licence of a portrait of Prince that Warhol had created based on a photograph by Lynn Goldsmith, and the trademark…
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How to care for an art collection at home
How to reduce the risks at home from light, humidity, water, hanging, cleaning, handling and storage, and the risk of losing digital files.
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Authenticity, attribution and forgery: what a collector can verify
How to distinguish authenticity, attribution and provenance, weigh signatures, certificates, catalogues and technical analysis, and act when doubts arise.
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How to start an art collection: criteria, budget and documentation
How to move from one-off purchases to a collection with criteria, a complete budget, due diligence, documentation and conservation from the first work.