BOOK REVIEW: Mateusz BIECZYŃSKI on Artistic canons and legal protection: developing policies to preserve, administer and trade artworks in 19th-century Rome and Athens by Chiara Mannoni (Comparative Legal History, XIII (2025), nr. 1 (June), pp. 164-169)

(Image source: Taylor&Francis)

Chiara Mannoni’s Artistic Canons and Legal Protection: Developing Policies to Preserve, Administer and Trade Artworks in 19th-Century Rome and Athens offers an exploration of the interplay between law, culture, and art during a transformative historical period. Focusing on two pivotal European cities, Rome and Athens, Mannoni argues that nineteenth-century legal frameworks were not merely reactive to the burgeoning art market but actively shaped the artistic canonsFootnote1 they aimed to safeguard. Her analysis bridges legal and art history, providing a fresh perspective on how laws influenced both the preservation of national heritage and the circulation of art within an evolving international market.

The book consists of an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. Each chapter presents a different aspect of the trade in antiquities and the legal restrictions imposed upon it, following a chronological order. The first chapter focuses on protective legislation, with particular emphasis on the significance of the Chirografo Chiaramonti (1802), an Act that introduced early preventive measures to regulate the export of antiquities and established the groundwork for cultural heritage protection in the Papal States, and the Edict Pacca (1834), which expanded these protections by introducing stricter controls on the removal and sale of cultural artifacts, emphasising the public interest in preserving Rome’s historical legacy. Both were designed to safeguard the cultural heritage of Rome. Similarly, the Gesetz of 1834 for Greece marked an important milestone in codifying legal protections for antiquities, aiming to prevent the widespread looting and unauthorised export of Greece’s rich archaeological heritage. Chapter two examines administrative chronicles, detailing the practical application of these legal measures within the Papal States, Athens, and the Greek provinces. Finally, in the third chapter, the author moves on to analyse the practices surrounding the trade of ancient artworks in both territorial contexts, discussing their influence on the shaping of the European art market and aesthetic preferences.

To read the full review, please click here. Online access is free for members of the European Society for Comparative Legal History. For further information about the volume on our blog, please visit here.

DOI: 10.1080/2049677X.2025.2500219