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The article discusses the French court case Clarke, Hunt, Cook and Newsquare v. The Association for the Creation of the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation, regarding a dispute over a 1985 painting by Francis Bacon created in honor of the lost painting "Le peintre sur la route de Tarascon" by Vincent Van Gogh. The trustees of the estate of Bacon's heir John Edwards claimed that the Vincent Van Gogh Foundation did not own the title of the Bacon painting and that it was loaned rather than gifted to the Foundation.

The article discusses the British court case Lord Beaverbrook et al v. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, regarding the intent of art donor Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook). Lord Beaverbrook established the Second Beaverbrook Foundation to provide works for his planned Beaverbrook Art Gallery, and the Foundation sought the return of paintings by J.M.W. Turner and Lucian Freud from the gallery in 2003. The case considered whether Beaverbrook loaned or gifted the artworks to the gallery.

As part of a policy to encourage philanthropy generally and specifically to give continuing support for the arts, the Government's 2011 Budget introduced proposals for a 'Cultural Gifts Scheme' to give a tax reduction to individuals or companies that donate gifts of pre-eminent works of art to the nation. This article considers the background context to that legislation, considers its operations and implications from a technical point of view, and reviews its likely effectiveness in achieving its objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]