Christopher A Marinello is an expert in recovering stolen, looted, and missing works of art. A lawyer for over 38 years, Marinello began his legal career as a litigator, negotiating complex title disputes between collectors, dealers, museums, and insurance companies. In 2013, he founded Art Recovery Group, a specialist practice providing due diligence, dispute resolution, and recovery services for the art market and the cultural heritage sector. Marinello has overseen the development of the ArtClaim Database, the most technologically advanced system in existence for identifying and recording issues and claims attached to works of art. Marinello has recovered over $400 million of stolen and looted artwork, and has worked on some of the most important recoveries of Nazi-looted art.
CJLPA: I thought we could start with a bit about your career. How did you start off as an art lawyer?
Christopher Marinello: I started off a while ago at art school, but I wasn’t particularly talented and was encouraged by others to try the law instead—with a law degree you can always go back to painting. So I went to law school and became a litigator, and worked in the courts of New York City for almost 20 years, and I developed my love for keeping my clients. I worked for artists, for galleries, collectors, museums, and whatnot. And then, in around 2013, I founded Arts Recovery International.
CJLPA: How did you come about doing that?
CM: I was working for the Art Loss Register as their General Counsel, and I started in New York and, at their request, moved to London. Then I left to start my own business. Of course, it’s very hard to tell a British businessman how to run their business when you’re an Italian American lawyer.
CJLPA: You’ve worked on the cases of some highly famous works of art. Would it be fair to say that fame and public intrigue around some of the cases you’ve worked on have been impediments to objective investigation?
CM: I don’t think so at all. In fact, some of the high-profile cases I have handled will never be disclosed publicly. The cases that we do disclose are for a reason: either because we are trying to publicly pressure a government or a certain party to resolve the matter in some fashion, or because we are trying to put pressure on the public to tell us the whereabouts of a stolen or looted painting. As lawyers, we do what our clients ask us to do. If they want the publicity we go forward. If not we remain confidential. If clients do decide to go forward publicly, it’s to apply pressure to somebody, or so the public knows that the painting is no longer subject to a title dispute, because they want to sell it or the painting has to be sold, and they want the art market to feel comfortable that a title dispute has been resolved.