The National Gallery of Australia to return 14 artworks to India, which were stolen or exported illegally.
This collection is the largest yet to be returned by the gallery and includes 6 sculptures, 6 photographs, a painted scroll and professional standard.
The collection, worth about $2.2 million, consisted of portraits and sculptures. The museum’s director Nick Mitzevich told the news agency, “It’s a relief that they [the artworks] can be returned to the Indian people, and it’s a resolution for the National Gallery to close a very difficult chapter of our history.”
National Gallery apologised for the stolen art, “We are doing all we can to avoid any future missteps of this kind,” Mitzevich was quoted as saying by The Australian. “It’s a historic issue … The
National Gallery of Australia was part of an international fraud campaign that affected more than a dozen of the world’s leading institutions.”
