Nov 28, 2024

Provenance Research Strategies

Provenance Research Strategies

On 2nd July Artclear had the pleasure of attending Angelina Giovani’s seminar on due diligence and provenance research strategies, hosted by Hallett Independent.

Angelina Giovani is a renowned expert in provenance research, known for her extensive experience in documenting cultural plunder, undertaking research for family offices and advising financial institutions on due diligence and collecting practices. Her research focuses on uncovering ownership histories, and she often collaborates with collectors and institutions to address ownership gaps. She also offers pre-acquisition due diligence services to reduce risks for private and corporate clients.  

During her lecture, Angelina presented several entertaining and revealing case studies to illustrate the value of her work and the need for it in the wider art market. Notable among these was an Edward Munch painting owned by the Griesbach family, where tracing the lender to a 1952 exhibition was crucial in confirming its legitimate provenance. She also discussed her research into a Murillo painting with an unidentified coat of arms and several 20th-century British paintings that went missing in France during a wartime exhibition that remain untraced.  

Angelina emphasized the importance and benefits of conducting risk assessments in art market transactions and shared her meticulous approach that involves harnessing a variety of sources, including newspaper archives, auction catalogues, records of stolen works, and databases of looted cultural property.

With its digital asset management services, Artclear is addressing the fundamental issue of unreliable data and the administrative burden and high transaction costs that this results in. Our aim is to bring the security and accessibility of modern financial systems to art transactions, through our fingerprinting technology, designed specifically for the art industry which connects physical artworks to verified digital records.  

We see Angelina Giovani’s in-depth provenance research and Artclear’s technological innovations as complementary and part of a wider trend in bringing greater clarity to the art world. We both aim to enhance transparency, security, and integrity in the art market; Giovani’s comprehensive research practices bolster the  legitimacy of artworks, while Artclear’s technology provides a robust framework for verifying and safeguarding this information. Together they represent a powerful trend in the movement to address the art market’s complexities and challenges and are paving the way for a future where art transactions are more reliable and secure.