Glasgow issues legal threats to stop poster firms and rock band illegally copying prized painting

For more than half a century, Salvador Dalí's dark and dramatic rendering of Christ's crucifixion has been regarded as his finest religious painting, attracting millions of visitors to an apparently modest municipal art gallery in Glasgow.

But now, 57 years after being bought direct from the artist by Glasgow's city fathers, the painting is at the centre of a legal investigation which may yet snare a death metal band from Alsace in France, ashtray manufacturers, and poster-makers in the US, Britain, Italy and Spain.

The council believes it has been losing tens of thousands of pounds in unpaid licensing fees and royalties a year from unauthorised copies of Christ of St John of the Cross, which was bought for £8,200 and now valued at more than £60m.

Lawyers acting for Glasgow city council have drawn up a hit-list of 50 companies, manufacturers and artists selling hand-painted copies, who are suspected of illegally copying it. Warnings have been issued to 25 firms and individuals across the world - some wrongly claiming to have the council's permission to reuse the image - to "cease and desist" or face legal action.

After intellectual property experts at Burness, the Glasgow-based law firm hired by the council, have finished with the largest suppliers of unapproved copies, the French rock band Mercyless may be next in line. The band's 1992 album Abject Offering, which features such tracks as Unformed Tumours and Burned at the Stake, has a cropped version of the painting on its cover. A council spokesman said the band was refused permission to use the painting but claimed on the album cover it was authorised to do so.

Colin Hulme, the intellectual property lawyer handling the case for the council, said their initial investigations had found that a handful of printing firms were responsible for a large proportion of the illicit copies. They may be asked or forced to repay royalties going back some years, he said.

Some firms even claimed to have authority to reprint Christ of St John of the Cross from the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation in Figueres, Spain, which oversees copyright for most Dalí works. But that claim was firmly denied yesterday by a spokeswoman for the foundation. "It's a very rare case that Dalí sold the work and the rights," she said. "But I can confirm that the owner of the painting does also own the copyright."

From The Times

January 28, 2009

A colossal mistake? Art world baffled by 'Goya' masterpiece

(Museo Nacional del Prado/Reuters)Experts say that the the poor technique and difference between other Goya masterpieces cast doubt on The Colossus

For almost 80 years it has been regarded as one of Francisco de Goya’s towering glories. But yesterday it was revealed that The Colossus was not painted by the Spanish master at all, but by an understudy. After a seven-month investigation, experts at the Prado gallery in Madrid came to the reluctant conclusion that the masterpiece was probably the work of Asensio Juliá, one of Goya’s assistants. They said that the painting, which has hung in the Prado for 78 years, was “Goyaesque but not by Goya”.

Experts at the Prado started an investigation last year when José Luis DÍez, the gallery’s curator of 19th-century art, suggested that The Colossus was the work of Juliá after a detailed analysis of the picture. He based his claims on the discovery of the initials A. J. in one corner of the canvas. Yesterday The Colossus was still attributed to Goya, but this may change to “From the school of Goya”. It was uncertain whether Juliá would be acknowleged formally for his work.

Goya experts have been split for years over the authenticity of the painting. In 2001 Juliet Bareau-Wilson, a British art historian, claimed that The Colossus and another work, The Milkmaid of Bordeaux, had been created by others. Her theory was supported by Mrs Mena, who agreed that doubts had existed for some time about both the paintings. The Prado denied the claims at the time and many experts believe the quality of the work means that Goya must have been involved. Nigel Glendinning, a British art historian, doubted that anyone but Goya could have painted the work. He told the Spanish newspaper ABC: “I never said it would be impossible that [someone else] might have intervened in the work of Goya, but the painting is too audacious to be by Asensio Juliá, because of the centrifugal strength of the composition and its iconic power. I hope to be able to see the study and the proofs.” A pioneer of early 19th-century techiniques, Goya is considered to be one of the world’s first “modern” artists, with a penetrating and incisive view of humanity. The Colossus, which is dominated by the figure of a giant who bursts through the clouds to terrify villagers below, was painted during the Peninsular War against France by Britain, Spain and Portugal between 1808 and 1814.

An inventory of Goya’s possessions in 1812 refers to a work called The Giant. Experts claim the that giant represents the Spanish people emerging to expel the French invaders who occupied Spain at the time. Others say that the horrified figures of the people represent the madness of war.

By John Hiscock
Last Updated: 5:21PM GMT 29 Jan 2009

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