The UNIDROIT Draft Convention on Cultural Objects: An Examination of the Need for a Uniform Legal Framework for Controlling the Illicit Movement of Cultural Property
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THE UNIDROIT DRAFT CONVENTION ON
CULTURAL OBJECTS: AN EXAMINATION OF
THE NEED FOR A UNIFORM LEGAL
FRAMEWORK FOR CONTROLLING THE ILLICIT
MOVEMENT OF CULTURAL PROPERTY
by
Spencer A. Kinderman*
I. INTRODUCTION
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Peter Watson, an English
journalist, disguised himself as A. John Blake, a well-connected
art dealer, in order to infiltrate the shady world of illicit art trade.'
Watson spent four years undercover in order to trace the location
of Caravaggio's Nativity (The Adoration of Saint Francis and
Saint Lorenzo), a painting stolen from the Oratorio of San Lo-
renzo in Palermo, Sicily in 1969.2 The Caravaggio, valued in excess
of 50 million dollars, is considered one of Sicily's most valuable
* Candidate for J.D., Emory University School of Law, 1994; Graduated Summa Cum
Laude, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with B.A. in Communication and Political
Science (1991). Co - recipient of the Emory International Law Review Award for Excellence
in Legal Research & Writing Upon graduation will be joining Johnson, Barton, Proctor,
Swedlaw and Naff, Birmingham, Alabama as new associate.
' Salinger, Alias A. John Blake: The Underworld of the Art World, 118 ABC Closeup
1, 6 (ABC television broadcast, July 16, 1983) [hereinafter Alias], as cited in James A. R.
Nafziger, Comments on the Relevance of Law and Culture to Cultural Property Law, 10
SYR. J. INT'L L. & COM. 323, 326-28. The conclusion that Nafziger reaches regarding Wat-
son's experience is that cultural property laws are necessary tools for educating the general
public about the seriousness of international art theft. Nafziger suggests that programs like
Alias are an effective means of encouraging public support for international efforts to curtail
illicit art trade. Id. at 328.
2 Id. For a more detailed version of Watson's exploits, see PETER WATSON, THE CARA-
VAGGIO CONSPIRACY (1984).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/emint7&div=24&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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