Leaked Brexit negotiating paper stokes Elgin Marbles dispute

Our daily round-up of news from the art world 

Leaked Brexit negotiating paper stokes Elgin Marbles dispute | A leaked clause in the most recent draft of the European Union’s negotiating mandate for a future trade deal with the United Kingdom has caused widespread speculation in the British media that the EU will demand the repatriation to Greece of the Parthenon marbles in the British Museum. Speaking to The Art Newspaper, the assistant director of the Institute for Art and Law, Alexander Herman, suggested instead that the clause is more likely to refer to the UK’s continuing commitment to legislation such as that designed to regulate the antiquities trade.

Egyptian coffin painting discovered at Harvard Semitic Museum | Researchers at the Harvard Semitic Museum have found a previously unknown painting of the ancient Egyptian sun-god Ra-Horakhty inside a 3,000-year-old coffin. The discovery was made during a research project in January, led by the museum’s director Peter Der Manuelian, documenting three coffins that were donated to the museum in 1901–02. 

David Adjaye and Cai Guo-Qiang win 2020 Noguchi Award | The Noguchi Museum in New York has named the British-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye and the Chinese architect Cai Guo-Qiang as the winners of this year’s Isamu Noguchi award. The annual award is presented to architects who share the Japanese-American sculptor’s commitment to exchange between East and West; previous winners include Norman Foster, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Tadao Ando.

Raphael tapestries return to Sistine Chapel | Ten tapestries designed by Raphael have returned to the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City for the first time since the 1520s. The works were commissioned for the chapel by Pope Leo X in 1515; they are usually exhibited on rotation in the Vatican Museum, but went on display together at the chapel on Monday after a decade of restoration work, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death. The tapestries will be in place until this Sunday (23 February).