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Literature and art

Writers, painters and composers, and what happened to their manuscripts, paintings, letters and royalties after they died.

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What do the literature and art estate cases show?

Paying the estate lawyer on a share of value gives the lawyer and the heirs opposite interests in the appraisal. A gift that passes through a second estate depends on that estate's executor honoring the first will.

Stories
180
Years
456 BCE to 2021
Main regions
Europe, North America, Latin America
Legal traditions
Common law, Civil law
Updated
30 October 2026

Every case in literature and art, best-known first

Best-known first: cases from 1900 on, then the United States, then Europe, and the people most read about on English Wikipedia each month. Fiction, scripture and legend come last.

Andy Warhol: Andy Warhol by Bernard Gotfryd 19801987 · New YorkAndy Warhol's foundation valued his art at $95 million; a court said $390.9 million, and his estate lawyer was paid on the differenceWarhol died after gallbladder surgery and left most of his estate to create a foundation. His longtime manager Fred Hughes was executor. The estate's lawyer, Edward Hayes, was to be paid in line with the estate's value.The Art Newspaper and 3 moreLaura Ingalls Wilder: Laura Ingalls Wilder cropped sepia21957 · Mansfield, MissouriLaura Ingalls Wilder left her book royalties to a Missouri library after her daughter's death; the daughter's heir renewed the copyrights, and a 2001 settlement paid the library $875,000Laura Ingalls Wilder's will left her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, the proceeds of her literary estate "during her natural life," with the Wright County library in Mansfield to receive them afterward.The Seattle Times and 2 moreBob Ross: Bob Ross publicity photo (c. 1982) (cropped)1995 · Orlando, FloridaBob Ross left his name to his son, and his business partners won it in courtBob Ross, his wife Jane, and Annette and Walt Kowalski pooled their savings to start Bob Ross Inc. Under the company's terms, a partner's shares were split among the surviving partners at death.CourtListener and 3 moreJean-Michel Basquiat: Jean-Michel Basquiat passport (cropped)1988 · New YorkBasquiat died at 27; his estate shut its authentication board, and the FBI later seized 25 fake Basquiats from a museumBasquiat died of an accidental heroin overdose at his home on Great Jones Street. His estate was controlled by his father, Gérard Basquiat. No will has been reported.itsartlaw.org and 4 moreDr. Seuss: Children's author Ted Geisel, (Dr. Seuss), three-quarter length portrait, seated at desk, facing front] / World Telegram1991 · La Jolla, CaliforniaDr. Seuss's widow ran his licensing for 27 years; three years after her death his estate pulled six of his booksTheodor Geisel's books have sold more than 600 million copies. His widow, Audrey Geisel, oversaw his estate and licensing after his death. She died on 19 December 2018, aged 97. Licensing is controlled by Dr. Seuss Enterprises.Wikipedia (English) and 1 moreAyn Rand: Photo portrait of Russian-American writer Ayn Rand used for the first-edition back cover of her novel The Fountainhead (1943).1982 · New YorkAyn Rand's heir kept the first and last pages of The Fountainhead manuscript; the Library of Congress took them from his home in January 2002Ayn Rand died in 1982 and left her papers and estate to Leonard Peikoff, who as executor controls the copyrights to all her works except Anthem.peikoff.com and 2 moreHunter S. Thompson: Hunter S. Thompson, Las Vegas 19712005 · Woody Creek, ColoradoHunter S. Thompson's ashes were launched from a 15-story tower at his ranch in August 2005, and a lawsuit later put the cost at $3 million paid by Johnny DeppHunter S. Thompson died at his Owl Farm home in Woody Creek, Colorado, in February 2005 by gunshot. His widow, Anita, said he left no suicide note.espn.com and 3 moreMichael Crichton: MichaelCrichton 22008 · Los Angeles, California, USAMichael Crichton's son was born after his death and left out of his will; in 2024 his estate sued Warner Bros., calling The Pitt an ER rebootMichael Crichton, the author of "Jurassic Park," created the NBC series "ER" and secured a "frozen rights" clause barring Warner Bros. from sequels, remakes or spinoffs without his consent, or his estate's after his death.NBC News and 5 moreJohn Steinbeck: John Steinbeck 1939 (cropped)1968 · New YorkA jury awarded John Steinbeck's stepdaughter more than $13 million against his son's family for blocking films of his novelsSteinbeck left his copyrights to his third wife, Elaine. His sons, Thom and John IV, received smaller bequests. Elaine and Thom fought for decades over control of the works.usatoday.com and 3 moreTruman Capote: Truman Capote by Jack Mitchell1984 · Bel Air, Los AngelesTruman Capote's ashes were divided, stolen at a party, returned in a garden hose, and auctioned in 2016Capote died at the Bel Air home of his friend Joanne Carson, Johnny Carson's former wife. The coroner listed liver disease complicated by phlebitis and multiple drug intoxication.Wikipedia (English)L. Ron Hubbard: L. Ron Hubbard in 1950 (cropped 3x4)1986 · Creston, San Luis Obispo County, CaliforniaL. Ron Hubbard was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea within a day of his death in January 1986, after his son had sued to have him declared deadL. Ron Hubbard had not been seen in public for six years when he died of a stroke at 8 p.m. on 24 January 1986, in a motor home on his ranch near Creston. He was 74. In November 1982 his eldest son, Ronald DeWolf (born L.cs.cmu.edu and 4 moreArthur Miller: Arthur Miller 19662005 · Roxbury, ConnecticutArthur Miller kept his son Daniel with Down syndrome out of public view and left him an equal share of the estate six weeks before he diedDaniel Miller was born in 1966 with Down syndrome. Around age four he was placed in the Southbury Training School in Connecticut, an institution later cited for dangerous conditions.NPR and 3 moreFrank Lloyd Wright: Frank Lloyd Wright portrait1959 · Phoenix, ArizonaFrank Lloyd Wright's grave in Wisconsin was emptied 26 years after his burial, and his body was cremated for ArizonaWright was buried in Wisconsin, near Taliesin, his home and school at Spring Green, beside members of his family. His third wife, Olgivanna, led the Taliesin Fellowship after his death.arabnews.pk and 4 moreTom Clancy: Tom Clancy at Burns Library cropped2013 · Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USATom Clancy signed a codicil 68 days before he died, and the top court of Maryland ruled 4 to 3 that it freed his widow's family trust from estate taxTom Clancy, the thriller writer, was the biggest minority investor in the group that bought the Baltimore Orioles in 1993, and split his stake with his first wife, Wanda, in their 1999 divorce.mdcourts.gov and 3 moreJack Kerouac: Kerouac by Palumbo 2 (cropped)1969 · St. Petersburg, FloridaA Florida judge ruled that the will giving Jack Kerouac's estate to his widow's family was forged, and the ruling changed nothingKerouac left his estate to his mother, Gabrielle. She died in 1973. A will dated 1973 in her name left everything to Stella Sampas Kerouac, Jack's third wife.nbcmiami.com and 3 moreMark Twain: Mark Twain by AF Bradley (cropped 2)1910 · Redding, ConnecticutMark Twain fired his secretary Isabel Lyon in 1909 and wrote 429 pages accusing her and her husband, a text kept private until 2015Isabel Lyon became Twain's secretary in 1902. After his wife Olivia died in 1904 she moved into his house, paid allowances to his daughters Clara and Jean, and helped supervise the building of Stormfield.lynncullen.com and 1 moreGore Vidal: GoreVidalVanVechten1 (cropped)2012 · Hollywood Hills, Los AngelesGore Vidal changed his trust in 2011 to leave everything to Harvard, and his half-sister and nephew suedGore Vidal's original will left everything to Howard Austen, his partner of 53 years, who died in 2003. In 2011 Vidal amended his trust to name Harvard University sole heir, though he never attended it.washingtonian.com and 3 moreJ. D. Salinger: J. D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye portrait)2010 · Cornish, New HampshireJ.D. Salinger blocked an unauthorised Catcher in the Rye sequel, and his estate settled to keep it out of North America until the copyright endsIn 2009 the Swedish writer Fredrik Colting published 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, featuring an aged Holden Caulfield. Salinger sued, and a federal judge in New York blocked US publication. Salinger died in January 2010.publishersweekly.com and 2 moreJackson Pollock: Jackson Pollock by Hans Namuth (cropped)1956 · East Hampton (Springs), New YorkJackson Pollock's mistress Ruth Kligman claimed he painted Red, Black & Silver for her weeks before his 1956 crash, and his widow Lee Krasner and the Pollock-Krasner board rejected itOn 11 August 1956 Pollock, aged 44, drove his Oldsmobile with two passengers, Edith Metzger and his mistress, the artist Ruth Kligman, less than a mile from his home. The car crashed. Pollock and Metzger died. Kligman survived.The Art Newspaper and 3 moreHarper Lee: Photo portrait of Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird dust jacket, 1960)2016 · Monroeville, AlabamaHarper Lee's second novel was published when she was frail and her lawyer controlled her affairs; her will stayed sealed until The New York Times suedLee published one novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, in 1960. In 2015 HarperCollins published Go Set a Watchman, an earlier manuscript.thebookseller.com and 3 moreJack Kirby: Jack-Kirby art-of-jack-kirby wyman-skaar1994 · Thousand Oaks, CaliforniaJack Kirby's heirs served 45 copyright termination notices on Marvel; the Second Circuit ruled his work was for hire in 2013 and the case settled in 2014Jack Kirby drew Marvel comics from 1958 to 1963 under the 1909 Copyright Act. His heirs, including Lisa, Neal, Barbara and Susan Kirby, sent Marvel 45 notices to terminate his transfer of rights in those comics.leagle.com and 3 moreNorman Rockwell: Rockwell-Norman-LOC1978 · Stockbridge, Massachusetts, USANorman Rockwell's sons sued to stop the Berkshire Museum selling paintings he gave it, and Shuffleton's Barbershop went to George Lucas's museumWhile living in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Norman Rockwell gave 2 of his paintings to the Berkshire Museum in nearby Pittsfield: Shaftsbury Blacksmith Shop (1940), also called Blacksmith's Boy, Heel and Toe, and Shuffleton's Barbershop (1950).berkshiremuseum.org and 10 moreAgatha Christie: Agatha Christie in Nederland (detectiveschrijfster), bij aankomst op Schiphol me, Bestanddeelnr 916-8898 (cropped)1976 · Wallingford, EnglandAgatha Christie gave her grandson the rights to The Mousetrap as a child, and the company holding her estate was sold three timesAgatha Christie gave her grandson Mathew Prichard the rights to The Mousetrap as a birthday present when he was a child. Her estate's site says he was nine, in 1952; another source says seven.agathachristie.com and 3 moreZaha Hadid: Zaha Hadid in Heydar Aliyev Cultural center in Baku nov 20132016 · Miami, FloridaZaha Hadid's business partner sued her three co-executors in London over a roughly £70 million estate and lost a key ruling in November 2020Zaha Hadid died in Miami on 31 March 2016. Her will named four executors: Patrik Schumacher, her partner at Zaha Hadid Architects, Rana Hadid, developer Peter Palumbo and artist Brian Clarke.The National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 moreEugene O'Neill: Eugene O’Neill, Nobel laureate in Literature 19361953 · Boston, MassachusettsEugene O'Neill disowned his daughter Oona in 1943, and his widow Carlotta released Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1956 against his 25-year banEugene O'Neill died in a Boston hotel on 27 November 1953, aged 65. He had disowned his daughter Oona in 1943 after she married Charlie Chaplin, and never saw her again. His son Eugene Jr. died by suicide in 1950.theatermania.com and 2 moreDylan Thomas: Dylan Thomas icon Blashford 19371953 · St Vincent's Hospital, New YorkDylan Thomas lost the Under Milk Wood manuscript in a Soho pub, his producer found it and sold it for £2,000, and his widow Caitlin lost her suit to get it backDylan Thomas lost his Under Milk Wood manuscript in a Cardiff hotel in March 1953 and got it back. In October 1953 he lost the finished original in a Soho pub.archives.library.wales and 4 moreGeorge Orwell: George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair (1903 - 1950), an English writer born in British India. On of his first jobs was acting as imperial police office1950 · University College Hospital, LondonGeorge Orwell married Sonia Brownell in a hospital in October 1949 and died in January 1950; his estate's accountant ran his rights until she sued in 1979George Orwell, 46, married Sonia Brownell, a literary editor about 15 years younger, on 13 October 1949 at University College Hospital, where he was being treated for tuberculosis.washingtonmonthly.com and 3 morePablo Picasso: Pablo picasso 11973 · Mougins, FrancePicasso died with no will and about 43,000 works, and the French state took its tax in paintingsPicasso died at 91 at Mougins. He left no will. The auctioneer Maurice Rheims counted 1,885 paintings, more than 1,200 sculptures, about 7,000 drawings, 3,222 ceramics and about 30,000 prints.Internet Archive and 3 moreF. Scott Fitzgerald: Photo portrait of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald used in a year-long print advertising campaign for the Woodbury Soap Company, in which Fitzgerald featured as one 1940 · Los Angeles, CaliforniaF. Scott Fitzgerald left an estate of about $35,000 in 1940, and the Catholic church refused his burial plot until his daughter petitioned in 1975F. Scott Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on 21 December 1940, aged 44. Gatsby had sold fewer than 23,000 copies by the end of 1925, and his book royalties were $80 in 1936.blogs.library.duke.edu and 3 moreAI illustration: A photographer's loft on Bond Street, New York, with prints and a camera on a long table, 19891989 · BostonRobert Mapplethorpe inherited three quarters of Sam Wagstaff's $7 million estate over the sister's challenge, left his own parents nothing, and was tried posthumously in CincinnatiCurator Sam Wagstaff died on 14 January 1987. His estate was worth upward of $7 million. Mapplethorpe received three quarters and Wagstaff's partner Jim Nelson the rest.mentalfloss.com and 4 moreMark Rothko: Consuelo Kanaga (American, 1894-1978). Mark Rothko, Yorktown Heights, ca. 1949. Gelatin silver photograph, 10 x 8in. (25.4 x 20.3cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Wallace 1970 · New York CityMark Rothko's executors sold 798 of his paintings to a gallery one of them worked for, and his 19-year-old daughter suedMark Rothko killed himself in his New York studio. His will left nearly everything to the Mark Rothko Foundation. His three executors were Bernard Reis, the painter Theodoros Stamos and Morton Levine.rothko.nga.gov and 3 moreC. S. Lewis: CS Lewis photo on dust jacket1963 · Oxford, EnglandA Lewis scholar says he saved C. S. Lewis's papers from a bonfire; a critic charged in 1988 that the story and an unfinished novel were a hoaxAfter C. S. Lewis died in 1963, his brother Warren Lewis held his papers.christianitytoday.com and 2 moreSylvia Plath1963 · LondonSylvia Plath died separated but not divorced, so Ted Hughes inherited her work and destroyed her last journalPlath and Hughes separated in October 1962. She died in London in February 1963, aged 30. The inquest found suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.nybooks.com and 3 moreIan Fleming: Ian Fleming c. 1958 (cropped)1964 · Canterbury, EnglandIan Fleming had two heart attacks during the Thunderball trial, settled, and died nine months laterFleming worked with the producer Kevin McClory and the screenwriter Jack Whittingham on a Bond film script that was never made. Fleming then published the novel Thunderball in 1961.Wikipedia (English) and 2 moreZora Neale Hurston: Hurston-Zora-Neale-LOC1960 · Fort Pierce, FloridaA yardman burned Zora Neale Hurston's belongings after she died in a county welfare home in 1960, and a deputy sheriff put out the fireZora Neale Hurston died of hypertensive heart disease on 28 January 1960, aged 69, at the St. Lucie County Welfare Home in Fort Pierce, where she had gone after a stroke and years of poverty.archive.news.ufl.edu and 3 moreThomas Kinkade: ThomasKinkade2012 · Monte Sereno, CaliforniaThomas Kinkade's girlfriend produced handwritten notes leaving her his mansion and $10 million, and his estranged wife said he was drunk when he wrote themKinkade sold his paintings as prints, licensed products and gallery franchises. He was separated from his wife, Nanette, and living with his girlfriend, Amy Pinto-Walsh, when he died at 54.CBS News and 3 moreJames Baldwin: James Baldwin 37 Allan Warren (cropped)1987 · Saint-Paul-de-Vence, FranceJames Baldwin's estate sold his papers to the Schomburg Center in 2017, with part of his correspondence reported sealed for 20 yearsJames Baldwin died in 1987 at his house in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. For about 30 years his papers stayed with his estate, which one report said almost never let biographers quote his correspondence.infodocket.com and 3 moreAnne Frank: Anne Frank passport photo, May 1942 (cropped)1945 · Bergen-Belsen; BaselThe Anne Frank Fonds named Otto Frank a co-author of the diary to extend its copyright past 2016Anne Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945. Her father, Otto, the family's only survivor, edited and published her diary. He set up the Anne Frank Fonds in Basel and left it his rights.jta.org and 3 moreDashiell Hammett: Dashiell Hammett 19511961 · New YorkThe US government seized Dashiell Hammett's royalties for back taxes, and after he died Lillian Hellman took control of his copyrightsHammett was jailed in 1951 for refusing to name contributors to a left-wing bail fund. The federal government sued him for back taxes and won a judgment of $140,000. His royalties and all other payments were blocked.London Review of Books and 3 moreAngela Merkel: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, chairperson of the CDU1956 · Seebüll, GermanyAngela Merkel returned two Emil Nolde paintings to the Berlin museum foundation in April 2019, as a Nationalgalerie show detailed his Nazi loyaltyEmil Nolde was a Nazi Party member and, per his letters, stayed loyal to the regime until the end of the war.smb.museum and 3 moreAlex Haley: Alex Haley1992 · Seattle, WashingtonAlex Haley died owing about $1.5 million, his estate auctioned his Pulitzer for $50,000, and Betty Shabazz sued over the Malcolm X manuscriptHaley died of a heart attack at 70. Reports put his debts at about $1.5 million (Deseret News) or $2 million (Phoenix New Times), with a $950,000 mortgage on his 125-acre farm in Norris, Tennessee.stuff.mit.edu and 3 moreZelda Fitzgerald: Zelda Fitzgerald (1923 Portrait) Retouched1948 · Asheville, North CarolinaZelda Fitzgerald died locked in a fifth-floor room when fire destroyed Highland Hospital in 1948; nine women died and no one was chargedZelda Fitzgerald, 47, was a patient at Highland Hospital, a sanatorium that Duke University's neuropsychiatric department took over in 1939.dncr.nc.gov and 2 moreAI illustration: A white clapboard farmhouse among trees in Ridgefield, Connecticut, 20122012 · Danbury, ConnecticutMaurice Sendak's foundation and the Rosenbach Museum fought for two years in a Connecticut probate court over his rare-book collectionMaurice Sendak deposited thousands of books and drawings at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia from the 1960s, was a board member from 1973 and honorary president from 2003, but never gave them formally.Smithsonian Magazine and 3 moreT. S. Eliot: Thomas Stearns ('T.S.') Eliot with his sister and his cousin, by Lady Ottoline Morrell (died 1938). See source website for additional information.1965 · London, EnglandT. S. Eliot's 1,131 letters to Emily Hale stayed sealed at Princeton for 60 years, and Harvard released his own denial the same dayEmily Hale, Eliot's companion for decades, gave his letters to Princeton under an agreement that they stay closed for 50 years after the later death of either of them.pwb.princeton.edu and 3 moreJohn Kennedy Toole: 1954 Yearbook photo of John Kennedy Toole1969 · Biloxi, MississippiJohn Kennedy Toole's mother got A Confederacy of Dunces published, then fought a bookseller and Toole's relatives over The Neon Bible until 1989Toole died by suicide in 1969, leaving the manuscripts of A Confederacy of Dunces and The Neon Bible with his mother, Thelma.finding-aids.lib.unc.edu and 3 moreJames A. Michener: James Albert Michener · DN-SC-92-053681997 · Austin, TexasJames Michener gave away about $117 million and left the bulk of his estate to Swarthmore CollegeMichener and his wife Mari gave an estimated $117 million to universities, libraries and museums during their lives, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy in 1997. Of that, $7.2 million went to Swarthmore College.Internet Archive and 3 moreFrida Kahlo: Frida Kahlo, by Guillermo Kahlo1954 · Coyoacán, Mexico CityDiego Rivera locked Frida Kahlo's bathroom after she died, and her clothes and papers stayed sealed for 50 yearsFrida Kahlo died at the Casa Azul, her family home in Coyoacán.getty.edu and 3 moreFrancis Bacon: Portrait of Francis Bacon.label QS:Len,"Portrait of Francis Bacon."1992 · MadridFrancis Bacon's sole heir sued Bacon's dealer for up to £100 million, then dropped the case two weeks before trialBacon left his estate to John Edwards, a younger friend from London's East End. Marlborough Fine Art had been Bacon's dealer for decades.The Art Newspaper and 4 moreGeorge Bernard Shaw: George Bernard Shaw1950 · Ayot St Lawrence, EnglandGeorge Bernard Shaw's will ordered a new 40-letter alphabet; the High Court found the trust not charitable in 1957, and the National Gallery of Ireland received a third of his royalties until 2020Shaw's will, dated June 1950, left the residue of an estate reported at about 300,000 pounds first to a trust run by the Public Trustee.oxbridgenotes.co.uk and 3 moreRobert Rauschenberg: Robert Rauschenberg 19992008 · Captiva Island, Florida, USARobert Rauschenberg's art trust grew from $605.6 million to $2.2 billion, and a Florida judge gave his three trustees $24.6 million in feesRobert Rauschenberg died at his home on Captiva Island, Florida, on 12 May 2008, aged 82. His will left the residue of his estate to his revocable trust, whose sole remainder beneficiary was the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.flprobatelitigation.com and 6 moreRobert E. Howard: Robert E. Howard1936 · Cross Plains, TexasRobert E. Howard shot himself in June 1936 and his mother died a day or two later; a will naming a friend was reportedly lost, and the Conan rights passed to a nurse's daughterRobert E. Howard, 30, shot himself on 11 June 1936 outside the family house in Cross Plains, Texas, while his mother, Hester, lay comatose.UPI and 2 moreLucy Maud Montgomery: LMM signed photo1942 · Toronto, OntarioL.M. Montgomery's death certificate said coronary thrombosis; her granddaughter wrote in 2008 that she took her own lifeL.M. Montgomery died in Toronto on 24 April 1942. Her death certificate listed coronary thrombosis as the primary cause.cbc.ca and 3 moreEzra Pound: Ezra Pound by Alvin Langdon Coburn, 1913, collotype photograph, from the National Portrait Gallery, which explicitly releases this image under the CC0 license. It was p1972 · Venice, ItalyEzra Pound spent more than 12 years at St. Elizabeths; his wife held legal control, and after he died the Pound archive was sold to Yale and both claimants were paidEzra Pound was arraigned for treason on 27 November 1945 and moved to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington on 21 December.openlettersmonthlyarchive.com and 2 moreEdgar Allan Poe: Edgar Allan Poe, circa 1849, restored, squared off1849 · Baltimore, MarylandEdgar Allan Poe's self-appointed literary executor was his enemy, who wrote his obituary under a false name and rewrote his lettersPoe and the editor Rufus Wilmot Griswold had feuded for years. Two days after Poe died, Griswold published an obituary under the pen name "Ludwig" in the New York Tribune. It attacked Poe's character.bpl.org and 3 moreAnne Sexton: Anne Sexton, Boston University1974 · Weston, MassachusettsAnne Sexton's psychiatrist gave about 300 therapy tapes to her biographer after her death, with her daughter's consent as literary executor, and ethicists condemned itAnne Sexton died by suicide in 1974 at age 45. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Martin Orne, began treating her when she was 28 and started recording their sessions in 1960, having her review them.psych.upenn.edu and 2 moreEdward Abbey: "Black Sun", by Edward Abbey (cropped)1989 · near Tucson, ArizonaEdward Abbey wrote instructions to be buried without a coffin or permit, and friends buried him in the Arizona desert two days after he diedEdward Abbey died at home near Tucson on 14 March 1989, aged 62, after four days of esophageal bleeding. He left a wife, Clarke Cartwright, five children and a father.abbeyweb.net and 3 moreErich Maria Remarque: Davos, Erich Maria Remarque1990 · SwitzerlandPaulette Goddard inherited Erich Maria Remarque's money, properties and art in 1970 and left New York University more than $20 million in 1990Erich Maria Remarque married Paulette Goddard in 1958 and died in 1970. She inherited much of his money, several properties across Europe and his art collection, and lived at his villa at Ronco sopra Ascona.findingaids.library.nyu.edu and 2 moreLucian Freud: LucienFreud2011 · LondonLucian Freud left a 96 million pound estate to his solicitor and one daughter, and a High Court judge refused to open the will to a son who was one of at least 14 childrenLucian Freud signed his last will on 10 May 2006. It revoked a 2004 will that had set up a half-secret trust.The National Archives, Find Case Law and 3 moreJames Joyce: Revolutionary Joyce Better Contrast1941 · ZurichJames Joyce's grandson destroyed his aunt Lucia's letters and threatened scholars until the copyrights ran out in 2012Stephen James Joyce, born in Paris in 1932, was James Joyce's grandson and his only living descendant. He and Seán Sweeney were the trustees of the Joyce estate.historynewsnetwork.org and 4 moreArthur Conan Doyle: Arthur Conan Doyle by Walter Benington, 19141930 · Crowborough, EnglandArthur Conan Doyle's heirs charged licence fees for Sherlock Holmes until a court ruled the character was free to useConan Doyle Estate Ltd. is a company owned by some collateral descendants of Conan Doyle and others. It claims rights in his works and grants licences. Random House took a licence for the anthology A Study in Sherlock.law.justia.com and 2 moreVivian Maier: www.mediodescocido.com.ar2009 · ChicagoVivian Maier was a nanny who died unknown; after her photographs sold, Cook County took over her estate to find out who owned themMaier worked as a nanny in Chicago and photographed the streets for decades without showing anyone. Her negatives were sold from a storage locker at auction in 2007 for unpaid rent.news.wttw.com and 3 moreMargaret Mitchell: Margaret Mitchell NYWTS1949 · Atlanta, GeorgiaMargaret Mitchell's estate sued to stop a novel retelling Gone With the Wind from the view of a slave, and ended up funding a Black collegeMitchell was struck by a car in Atlanta in 1949. Her copyrights passed to family trusts, administered for her heirs by SunTrust Bank.openjurist.org and 3 moreLouis Kahn: LouisKahn1974 · Pennsylvania Station, New YorkLouis Kahn died unidentified in a Penn Station restroom, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars, with three families at his funeralKahn had a heart attack in a Penn Station restroom on his way back from India. The address on his passport had been scratched out, and the police cable gave the wrong address, so it took two to three days to identify him.designmuseum.org and 3 moreBram Stoker: Bram Stoker 19061912 · LondonBram Stoker's widow sued over Nosferatu, and a German court ordered every copy of the film destroyedStoker died with modest means, and Dracula's royalties were his widow Florence's main income. In 1922 the German company Prana Film released Nosferatu, an unauthorised adaptation of Dracula. Florence sued.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 3 morePatricia Highsmith: Patricia-Highsmith-19621995 · Locarno, SwitzerlandPatricia Highsmith left her whole estate, over $3 million, to the Yaddo artists' colony, and her papers went to the Swiss Literary ArchivesHighsmith died in a hospital in Locarno in 1995 and left her entire estate to Yaddo, the artists' colony in Saratoga Springs, New York.helveticarchives.ch and 3 moreMarcel Duchamp: French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)1968 · Neuilly-sur-Seine, FranceMarcel Duchamp worked in secret for 20 years on Étant donnés; it was moved to Philadelphia under his 1966 instructions after he died in 1968For about twenty years Marcel Duchamp built Étant donnés in his New York studio while the art world assumed he had stopped making art.duchamparchives.org and 3 moreGustav Klimt: Klimt1918 · Vienna, AustriaAfter Gustav Klimt died in 1918, the mothers of his children claimed support from his estate and were paid 4,000 to 10,000 crowns eachGustav Klimt died in Vienna in February 1918 after a stroke. He never married. He paid monthly allowances to the mothers of several children. Documented are six children by three women, two of whom died young.klimt-database.com and 4 moreJerzy Kosiński: Jerzy Kosiński (by Eric Koch, 1969)1991 · New York CityJerzy Kosiński was accused of plagiarism and ghostwriting in 1982 and killed himself in 1991 with a plastic bag over his headKosiński's The Painted Bird (1965) was banned in Poland until 1989.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 3 moreJules Verne: Photograph of Jules Verne by Félix Nadar1905 · Amiens, FranceJules Verne's son rewrote his posthumous novels, and Verne's lost 1863 novel stayed in a locked safe until his great-grandson forced it open in 1989After Verne died in 1905, his son Michel and publisher Hetzel's house brought out the remaining manuscripts as posthumous novels.depauw.edu and 3 moreBeatrix Potter: Beatrix Potter by King cropped1943 · Near Sawrey, Lake District, EnglandBeatrix Potter left more than 4,000 acres and 14 or 15 farms to the National Trust, with a life interest for her husbandPotter put her royalties into Hill Top Farm in 1905 and bought Troutbeck Park Farm in 1923 to keep it from developers. She died on 22 December 1943; one source puts her estate at £211,636.beatrixpottersociety.org.uk and 3 moreAI illustration: Manuscripts and a laptop on a desk in a Stockholm flat, 20042004 · StockholmStieg Larsson's partner of 30 years got nothing from the Millennium fortune because they never marriedStieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist who investigated far-right groups for the magazine Expo. He died of a heart attack at 50, before any of his three crime novels, the Millennium trilogy, was published.dagensps.se and 2 moreZdzisław Beksiński: Zdzisław Beksiński i Piotr Dmochowski (28.06.2003) (cropped)2005 · Warsaw, PolandZdzisław Beksiński was stabbed to death in his Warsaw flat in February 2005 by the 19-year-old son of his aide, after refusing a loanZdzisław Beksiński, 75, was found dead in his Warsaw apartment on 22 February 2005. He had been stabbed repeatedly in the head and chest; secondary sources count 17 wounds, two fatal.krakowpost.com and 4 moreD. H. Lawrence: D H Lawrence passport photograph1930 · Vence, FranceD. H. Lawrence was exhumed in France in 1935 and cremated for a New Mexico shrine, and a scholar reported that the man who carried the ashes said he threw them awayD. H. Lawrence died of tuberculosis in Vence on 2 March 1930 and was buried in the Vence cemetery two days later.dhlawrenceranch.unm.edu and 2 morePeggy Guggenheim: Peggy Guggenheim, Lo Specchio (1958) (cropped)1979 · Camposampiero, near Padua, ItalyPeggy Guggenheim's grandsons sued the Guggenheim Foundation in Paris to undo her gift of the Venice collection and lostPeggy Guggenheim's father, Benjamin, died on the Titanic in 1912. In 1919, at 21, she inherited $2.5 million. From 1949 she showed her collection at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice.hyperallergic.com and 6 moreThomas Hardy: Thomas Hardy Restored Portrait 1910–1915 (3x4 cropped)1928 · Max Gate, Dorchester, EnglandThomas Hardy's heart was buried in his first wife's grave and his ashes in Westminster Abbey after his executor overruled his wish; a legend says a cat ate the heartThomas Hardy died at Max Gate just after 9 p.m. on 11 January 1928. He wanted burial at Stinsford, Dorset, in the grave of his first wife, Emma.archive.spectator.co.uk and 3 moreÉmile Zola: Nadar (atelier de) - Emile Zola, 13-5565351902 · Paris, FranceA 1953 newspaper said a chimney sweep blocked Émile Zola's flue in 1902, and the Panthéon ceremony for his remains ended with a gunman wounding DreyfusÉmile Zola died in his Paris apartment on 29 September 1902, aged 62, of carbon monoxide from a chimney that was not drawing. The death was ruled accidental.historytoday.com and 3 moreGabriel García Márquez: Gabriel Garcia Marquez2014 · Mexico CityGabriel García Márquez said his last novel must be destroyed; his sons published it on his 97th birthdayGarcía Márquez left an unfinished novel in up to five drafts. After his death it was stored with his personal archive at the University of Texas. His sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo García, say he told them: "This book doesn't work.euronews.com and 3 moreBarnett Newman: Newman Barnett1970 · New York CityBarnett Newman's "Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III" was slashed in Amsterdam in 1986; a $400,000 restoration was judged to have destroyed itIn 1986 a visitor slashed Newman's "Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue III" at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The museum describes the man as distressed by abstract art.dutchnews.nl and 3 morePhilip Larkin: Ocean, Humphrey; Philip Larkin; National Portrait Gallery, London, copyright owned by Humphrey Ocean, permission given to publish on Wikipedia1985 · Hull, EnglandPhilip Larkin's secretary shredded his 30 volumes of diaries after he died, on an instruction his will did not spell outLarkin left the bulk of his estate to Monica Jones, his partner of decades. She became his literary executor. His will was ambiguous about his private papers. Jones relayed his instruction that the diaries be destroyed.prod.archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk and 3 moreEmily Dickinson: Black-white photograph of Emily Dickinson21886 · Amherst, MassachusettsEmily Dickinson's poems were edited by her brother's mistress, and her sister sued the mistress for a strip of landAfter Emily Dickinson died, her sister Lavinia found hundreds of unpublished poems. Mabel Loomis Todd, the lover of Emily's brother Austin, edited the first published volumes in the 1890s.archive.emilydickinson.org and 3 moreWalt Whitman: Walt Whitman - George Collins Cox1892 · Camden, New JerseyWalt Whitman's brain was removed at his autopsy for a brain club and was destroyed within a yearWhitman died at his home on Mickle Street. On 27 March 1892 Dr. Henry Ware Cattell, prosector of the American Anthropometric Society, performed the autopsy under Prof.pubs.lib.uiowa.edu and 2 moreAI illustration: Manuscripts and diaries burning in a fireplace in a Trieste house, 18901890 · Trieste, Austria-HungaryRichard Burton's widow burned his manuscript of The Scented Garden and his diaries after he diedSir Richard Burton translated the Arabian Nights. When he died he was revising a translation of the Arabic erotic text The Perfumed Garden, retitled The Scented Garden, with extensive notes.grolierclub.omeka.net and 2 moreJ. M. Barrie: James Matthew Barrie001937 · LondonJ.M. Barrie gave Peter Pan to a children's hospital, and Parliament made the hospital's royalty permanentIn 1929 Great Ormond Street Hospital in London asked Barrie to join a building committee. He declined, saying he hoped to find another way to help.legislation.gov.uk and 3 moreMary Shelley: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley title QS:P1476,en:"Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley "label QS:Len,"Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley "l1822 · at sea off Viareggio, ItalyShelley's father would fund his widow only if she published no biography, and she kept the remains of his heart in her deskPercy Bysshe Shelley drowned when his sailing boat sank in a storm near Viareggio. His body washed up about ten days later and was cremated on the beach. His father, Sir Timothy Shelley, controlled the family estate.mentalfloss.com and 3 moreJane Austen: Portrait of Jane Austen in watercolor and pencil1817 · Winchester, EnglandKelly Clarkson bought Jane Austen's ring for 152,450 pounds in 2012, and Britain barred export until a museum raised the same sumJane Austen's gold and turquoise ring is one of only three known pieces of her jewellery. Papers show it passed to her sister Cassandra, then to Eleanor Austen, wife of Henry Thomas Austen, and stayed in the family.museumsassociation.org and 3 moreFederico García Lorca: Lorca (1914)1936 · Alfacar, near Granada, SpainFederico García Lorca was shot with three other men in August 1936, and a 2009 dig at the supposed grave in Alfacar found no remainsFederico García Lorca was 38 when he was shot at dawn on 18 August 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War.foroporlamemoria.info and 4 moreVincent van Gogh: Self-Portrait title QS:P1476,en:"Self-Portrait "label QS:Len,"Self-Portrait "label QS:Les,"Autorretrato"label QS:Lnds,"S1890 · Auvers-sur-Oise, FranceVan Gogh's brother died six months after him, and Theo's widow built the reputation from the paintings she inheritedVincent van Gogh sold very little in his lifetime. His brother Theo, an art dealer who had supported him, died in January 1891.vangoghmuseum.nl and 3 moreHerman Melville: Herman Melville by Joseph O Eaton1891 · New York CityHerman Melville's widow tied his unpublished papers in bundles in 1891, and Billy Budd stayed in a breadbox until a biographer opened it in 1919Herman Melville died in September 1891, aged 72, after decades of obscurity.harvardfilmarchive.org and 3 moreArthur Koestler: Arthur Koestler (1969)1983 · 8 Montpelier Square, LondonArthur Koestler and his wife Cynthia died together in 1983; his 1 million pound estate paid for a parapsychology chair after four universities declined itArthur Koestler, diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1976 and leukaemia in 1980, wrote a suicide note dated June 1982. On 1 March 1983 he and his wife Cynthia, 55 and believed healthy, died of Tuinal and alcohol.psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk and 3 moreHenry Moore: Henry Moore in workshop Allan Warren (cropped)1986 · Perry Green, HertfordshireThieves stole Henry Moore's 2-ton Reclining Figure, valued at 3 million pounds, from his foundation in 2005 and police believe it was sold for scrap worth under 3,000 poundsHenry Moore's home at Perry Green is the base of the Henry Moore Foundation, which holds his sculpture. Reclining Figure 1969 to 70 is a bronze 3.6 metres long and 2.1 tons, one of six casts plus an artist's copy.tate.org.uk and 3 moreMaxim Gorky: Black and white film copy negative of Maxim Gorky, half-length portrait, facing front by Herman Mishkin, N.Y.1936 · Gorki-10, near MoscowThe 1938 Moscow trial charged Yagoda and doctors with murdering Maxim Gorky and his son; 18 defendants were sentenced to be shotMaxim Gorky died on 18 June 1936 at his dacha near Moscow. The official cause was pneumonia after a long illness.marxists.org and 3 moreAI illustration: A stone farmhouse in the Val di Chiana, Tuscany, with a writing desk at an open window, 20062006 · Oliveto, Tuscany, ItalyMuriel Spark left her entire estate to her companion Penelope Jardine and took steps to leave her only son nothingMuriel Spark died on 13 April 2006 at 88. Her son, Samuel Robin Spark, was born in July 1938 and raised by her parents from the age of seven. In March 1998 the Observer reported a feud between them over her Jewish origins.manuscripts.nls.uk and 3 moreJosephine Hopper: The Art Student, 1906. Portrait of Miss Josephine Nivision, later known as Jo Hopper, by Robert Henri.1967 · New York CityJo Hopper left the Whitney more than 3,000 Edward Hopper works in 1968; a critic alleges a Nyack minister who shared the residue took hundreds more, and the museum has declined to pursue itEdward Hopper left his estate to his wife Jo. When she died in 1968 her will gave nearly all his work to the Whitney Museum, which received more than 3,000 works, the largest single gift in its history. She named the Rev.bostonglobe.com and 3 morePaul Klee: Paul Klee by Hugo Erfurth, 19221940 · Muralto, SwitzerlandPaul Klee's widow sold his estate for SFr120,000 two days before dying; his son sued the foundation that received it, and the case settled after four yearsPaul Klee died on 29 June 1940 before Bern completed his naturalisation. His widow, Lily, held his artistic estate. She fell seriously ill in September 1946.archive.zpk.org and 3 moreYukio Mishima: Yukio Mishima, 1955 (cropped 850×950 px)1970 · Ichigaya, TokyoMishima's widow boycotted Paul Schrader's 1985 film, and his children won a copyright suit over his lettersYukio Mishima died by seppuku on 25 November 1970, aged 45, after a failed attempt to rouse the Self-Defense Forces at a Tokyo base. He left his wife Yoko, whom he married on 1 June 1958, and two children, Noriko and Iichiro.avclub.com and 2 moreKazimir Malevich: Casimir Malevich photo1935 · Leningrad, USSRKazimir Malevich's heirs sued Amsterdam over 84 works held since 1958; in April 2008 the city returned five paintingsMalevich was called back to the Soviet Union in 1927 and could not return to Berlin to retrieve the works he left there. Amsterdam says it bought the collection in 1958 from a Dr. H.stedelijk.nl and 4 moreSergei Yesenin: Esenin Moscow 19221925 · Hotel Angleterre, Leningrad, USSRSergei Yesenin was found hanged in the Hotel Angleterre in 1925, his heirs went to court for three years, and his secretary died at his graveSergei Yesenin, 30, was found hanged in his room at the Hotel Angleterre in Leningrad on 28 December 1925.calend.ru and 5 moreVictor Hugo: Portrait photograph of Victor Hugo published in the widely distributed serial publication entitled Galerie contemporaine, littéraire, artistique. Issued in parts from 1885 · Paris, FranceVictor Hugo left 50,000 francs to the poor and asked for their hearse; France gave him a state funeral that drew more than two million peopleVictor Hugo died of pneumonia on 22 May 1885, aged 83. His five-sentence will said, "Je donne cinquante mille francs aux pauvres," and asked to be carried to the cemetery in the paupers' hearse.deslettres.fr and 2 moreLewis Carroll: LewisCarrollSelfPhoto1898 · Guildford, EnglandLewis Carroll's diaries lost four volumes and ten pages before reaching the British Library in 1969; his Alice manuscript sold at Sotheby's in 1928Charles Dodgson, who wrote as Lewis Carroll, died in 1898 and left diaries held by his family. By 1932 four volumes had disappeared. One account blames a move and another blames storage in a cellar.contrariwise.info and 3 morePiet Mondrian: Piet Mondriaan2021 · New York (Mondrian died 1944)Trustees for the family of Mondrian's heir Harry Holtzman sued the Philadelphia Museum of Art in December 2021 for a painting the Nazis took from a Hanover museum in 1937, valued at over $100 millionPiet Mondrian died in New York in 1944 and named the artist Harry Holtzman his heir. Holtzman died in 1987.govinfo.gov and 2 moreRobert Indiana2018 · Vinalhaven, MaineRobert Indiana was sued the day before he died alone on a Maine island, and his LOVE estate spent years in courtIndiana spent his last decades in a former Odd Fellows hall on Vinalhaven called Star of Hope. On 18 May 2018, the day before he died, the Morgan Art Foundation, which held rights to his images, sued in New York.maine.gov and 3 moreAI illustration: Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, the wood behind the Winnie-the-Pooh stories2007 · Los Angeles; Hartfield, EnglandThe Winnie-the-Pooh rights holder sued Disney for 13 years, and lost because its investigator took Disney's trashMilne sold North American merchandising rights to Winnie-the-Pooh to the agent Stephen Slesinger in 1930.thedailyrecord.com and 3 moreWillem de Kooning: Willem de Kooning in his studio1997 · Tucson, Arizona; Cliff, New MexicoWillem de Kooning's Woman-Ochre was cut from a Tucson museum frame in 1985 and found in 2017 at the estate sale of a retired coupleWillem de Kooning painted Woman-Ochre in 1954-55. Edward Gallagher Jr. gave it to the University of Arizona Museum of Art in 1958. On 29 November 1985, the day after Thanksgiving, a man and a woman entered as the museum opened.artmuseum.arizona.edu and 3 moreGeorgia O'Keeffe1986 · Santa Fe, New MexicoGeorgia O'Keeffe's late codicils left most of a $65 million estate to her assistant, 58 years younger, and her family suedIn 1973 a young potter, Juan Hamilton, came to work for Georgia O'Keeffe at her New Mexico home. He was 58 years younger. As her eyesight failed he became her assistant and companion.UPI and 3 moreTennessee Williams: Tennessee Williams NYWTS1983 · New York CityTennessee Williams left his $10 million estate to Sewanee and his brother $25,000; the brother sued for undue influence and settled for $100,000Tennessee Williams signed his will in September 1980 and changed it slightly that December. It was filed in March 1983 with an estate of about $10 million.new.sewanee.edu and 4 moreAI illustration: A rented room on Webster Avenue, Chicago, piled with handmade books and painted scrolls, 19731973 · ChicagoAbout 50 distant cousins of Henry Darger sued the landlords who saved his art, 49 years after his deathDarger was a hospital janitor who lived alone in one rented room. His landlords, Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner, found thousands of pages of writing and large illustrated panels in the room when he left.The Art Newspaper and 3 morePierre-Auguste Renoir: Pierre Auguste Renoir, uncropped image1973 · France; Arizona, USAA French court gave Renoir's assistant Richard Guino co-authorship of the Renoir sculptures in 1973; his heirs won a US infringement verdict against Renoir's great-grandson in 2008Pierre-Auguste Renoir was crippled by arthritis. The sculptures published under his name between 1913 and 1917 were made with Richard Guino, his assistant. Guino's son sued in 1965 for his father to be recognised as co-author.cases.justia.com and 3 moreH. P. Lovecraft: Portrait of horror fiction writer, Howard P. Lovecraft.1937 · Providence, Rhode IslandH. P. Lovecraft's literary executor died in 1951, his papers went to August Derleth, and no court has settled who owns his copyrightsH. P. Lovecraft died of cancer in Providence in 1937, aged 46, known mostly to readers of pulp magazines. He had named a young admirer, Robert H. Barlow, his literary executor. Barlow placed Lovecraft papers at Brown University.findingaids.library.tamu.edu and 3 moreEileen Gray: Eileen Gray1976 · Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, FranceEileen Gray's furniture was removed from her villa E-1027 and sold at Sotheby's in 1991; the state bought the ruined house in 1999Eileen Gray designed the villa E-1027 for Jean Badovici, who kept it after they separated in 1932. Le Corbusier painted murals on walls Gray had left white in 1938 and 1939, which she called vandalism.archiseek.com and 3 moreRobert Walser: Robert Walser, in Zürich, around 1900.1956 · Herisau, SwitzerlandRobert Walser was found dead in the snow in 1956 after 23 years in an asylum, and his guardian Carl Seelig controlled the microscripts until 1962Robert Walser entered the Herisau asylum in 1933 under a diagnosis of schizophrenia. On 25 December 1956 children found his body in the snow on one of his long walks. He was 78.vqronline.org and 4 moreAI illustration: Ives Street in Chelsea, London, brick terraces on a summer afternoon, 19871987 · LondonPalestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali was shot in London in 1987, Britain expelled Israeli officials after a Mossad double agent was jailed, and no one has been charged with the murderOn 22 July 1987 a gunman shot Naji al-Ali in the back of the neck as he walked from his car to the London office of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, Ives Street, Knightsbridge. He died in hospital on 29 August 1987, aged 51.Al Jazeera and 2 moreRabindranath Tagore: 1926 Rabindrath Tagore1941 · Calcutta, IndiaRabindranath Tagore's 1913 Nobel gold medal and 49 other items were stolen from the Visva-Bharati museum in March 2004 and have not been recoveredRabindranath Tagore founded Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan, West Bengal, and the university kept his Nobel medal and other belongings in its museum.tribuneindia.com and 3 moreFrancisco Goya: Spanish: El pintor Francisco de GoyaPortrait of Francisco de Goyatitle QS:P1476,es:"El pintor Francisco de Goya"label QS1828 · Bordeaux, FranceGoya's grave in Bordeaux was opened in 1888 and his skull was missing; he was reburied in Madrid in 1919 without itFrancisco de Goya died in Bordeaux on 16 April 1828, aged 82. He was buried in the Grande Chartreuse cemetery in the Muguiro family mausoleum, beside his friend and in-law Martín Miguel de Goicoechea.Smithsonian Magazine and 2 moreFriedrich Nietzsche: Nietzsche187a1900 · Weimar, GermanyNietzsche's sister took control of his papers while he was insane, published The Will to Power, and Hitler came to her funeralFriedrich Nietzsche collapsed mentally in 1889. His sister Elisabeth had left for Paraguay in 1887, where she and her husband Bernhard Förster founded a German colony, Nueva Germania; Förster killed himself there on 3 June 1889.Wikipedia (English)Ambrose Bierce: Abierce1914 · Mexico, location unconfirmedAmbrose Bierce vanished in Mexico in 1913 or 1914, and a priest put a plaque in a Sierra Mojada cemetery in 2004 for the grave a witness describedAmbrose Bierce, 71, left Washington in October 1913 to tour his old Civil War battlefields and crossed into Mexico by December. His last known letter is dated 26 December 1913 from Chihuahua.donswaim.com and 1 moreClaude Monet: Portrait photograph of the French impressionist painter Claude Monet by Nadar1966 · Vernon, FranceMonet's last heir died in a car crash on 3 February 1966 and left Giverny and his father's paintings to the Académie des Beaux-ArtsClaude Monet's son Michel had no heir. His elder brother Jean had died earlier.academiedesbeauxarts.fr and 3 morePierre Bonnard: Tête de Bonnard (Portrait photograph of Pierre Bonnard), c.1899, Musée d'Orsay, restaurée1947 · Le Cannet, FrancePierre Bonnard's wife had four unknown nieces; a French court ruled in 1951 that he forged her will, and the family won on appealPierre Bonnard's wife Marthe, who died in January 1942, had told him for decades that she had no family.lejournaldesarts.fr and 4 moreWalter Scott: Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) title QS:P1476,en:"Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) "label QS:Len,"Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)1832 · Abbotsford, ScotlandWalter Scott owed £130,000 when his printer failed, refused bankruptcy, and wrote until he died to pay itScott was the only partner with money in the Ballantyne printing business. When the Panic of 1825 brought it down, he owed £130,000 and the ruin was public.Wikipedia (English)Oscar Wilde: Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony. Three-quarter-length photograph, seated (cropped)1900 · ParisOscar Wilde died bankrupt in Paris; his friend Robbie Ross bought back the rights and gave the income to Wilde's sonsAfter Wilde's conviction he was declared bankrupt, and the rights to his texts were sold off. He died in Paris with Robbie Ross at his side. Ross became his literary executor.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca and 1 moreMargaret Fuller: Daguerreotype of Margaret Fuller (1810-1850). Further information from Margaret Fuller: An American Romantic Life (Volume 1) by Charles Capper: The original daguer1850 · off Fire Island, New YorkMargaret Fuller, her husband and their son drowned 100 yards from Fire Island in 1850, and her manuscript history of the Roman Republic was lostMargaret Fuller reported from Rome on the 1849 Roman Republic and wrote a history of it.Wikipedia (English)Adele Bloch-Bauer: Adele Bloch-Bauer vers 19201925 · ViennaAdele Bloch-Bauer's will asked for her Klimt portraits to go to Austria; the Nazis took them, and her niece won them back in 2006Gustav Klimt painted Adele Bloch-Bauer in 1907 and 1912. Her husband, the sugar industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, owned the paintings. Adele's will asked Ferdinand to leave the Klimts to the Austrian state gallery at his death.plone.unige.ch and 4 moreBruno Schulz: Drohobycz bruno schulz tablica 20081942 · Drohobych (then in German-occupied Poland, now Ukraine)Bruno Schulz was shot in the street in Drohobych in November 1942 in a feud between two SS men; in 2001 Yad Vashem cut his murals from a pantry wall and flew them to IsraelBruno Schulz, born in 1892, was a Jewish writer and artist in Drohobych. SS officer Felix Landau, who liked his drawings, got him out of the ghetto and commissioned murals for his house.newrepublic.com and 3 moreJack London: Jack London young1916 · Glen Ellen, CaliforniaJack London left nearly his entire estate to his wife Charmian in 1916; she kept the ranch, evicted a biographer, and her 1938 will turned it into a state parkJack London died on his Beauty Ranch at 40. His death certificate lists uremia following acute renal colic. He also had dysentery and alcoholism, and was taking morphine and opium. Older accounts called it suicide.parks.ca.gov and 3 moreNikolai Gogol: NV Gogol1852 · Moscow, RussiaGogol burned the second part of Dead Souls nine days before he died; in 1931 his coffin was opened, and legend says the skull was missingOn the night of 24 February 1852 Nikolai Gogol burned manuscripts containing most of the second part of Dead Souls. He later called it a mistake and said the Devil had played a joke on him.weekend.rambler.ru and 3 moreJean-Paul Sartre: Jean Paul Sartre 19651980 · Paris, FranceSartre adopted Arlette Elkaïm and made her his heir, so Simone de Beauvoir had no legal say over his work and adopted a daughter of her ownIn 1956 Arlette Elkaïm, a student from Algeria, wrote to Jean-Paul Sartre; they had a brief affair, and he helped her stay in Paris when her father ordered her home for an arranged marriage.jffp.pitt.edu and 3 morePaul Gauguin: Paul Gauguin Wearing a Breton Jacket1903 · Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas IslandsPaul Gauguin died in the Marquesas with no will, the colony auctioned his paintings for a few francs, and his widow Mette got about 4,000 francsPaul Gauguin died at his house, the Maison du Jouir, in Atuona on 8 May 1903, aged 54.giquelloetassocies.fr and 3 morePearl S. Buck: Pearl S. Buck - 19601973 · Danby, VermontPearl S. Buck left three contradictory wills, a dance instructor and her seven adopted children fought for six years, and a Vermont court found undue influencePearl S. Buck met Theodore F. Harris, a 32-year-old dance instructor, in 1963, when she was 70. In 1964 she founded the Pearl S. Buck Foundation and named him chief executive.inquirer.com and 4 moreJacques-Louis David: French: Portrait de l'artiste Self-portraittitle QS:P1476,fr:"Portrait de l'artiste "label QS:Lfr,"Portrait de l'artiste1825 · BrusselsFrance refused to take back Jacques-Louis David's body in 1825, so he lies in a Brussels cemetery under an obeliskJacques-Louis David voted for the execution of Louis XVI in 1793 and later became Napoleon's first painter. After 1815 he lived in exile in Brussels. He died there in December 1825.patrimoine.brussels and 2 moreMax Liebermann: Hilsdorf, Jacob - Max Liebermann (Zeno Fotografie)1935 · BerlinMax Liebermann's widow Martha killed herself in March 1943 as police came to deport her, and in 2025 a Dutch committee advised returning a Liebermann drawing from the Rijksmuseum to her heirsMax Liebermann left his studio and collection to his wife Martha. In December 1938 she surrendered silver and jewellery and was barred from the family house on Pariser Platz.Dutch Restitutions Committee and 3 moreAI illustration: A painting crated and sealed in a New York museum storeroom, 19981969 · LondonA Schiele portrait lent to MoMA was seized in New York as Nazi loot, and the Vienna museum paid the owner's heirs $19 million to keep itEgon Schiele painted Portrait of Wally in 1912. Lea Bondi Jaray, a Jewish art dealer in Vienna, owned it.The New York Times and 3 moreNina Kandinsky: Portrait de Nina Kandinsky, Hugo Erfurth, 19241980 · Gstaad, SwitzerlandNina Kandinsky was strangled at her Gstaad chalet in 1980, about $2 million of her jewellery was stolen, and no one has been chargedWassily Kandinsky died in 1944. His widow Nina sold works to major museums and consigned a large group to the dealer Karl Nierendorf. In January 1980 she gave the Centre Pompidou all his works then in her possession.scene4.com and 1 moreVoltaire: French: Portrait de Voltaire (1694-1778) en 1718 Voltaire the age of twenty-four (?)title QS:P1476,fr:"Portrait de Volta1778 · Paris, FranceVoltaire was refused a Paris burial in 1778, buried in secret, moved to the Panthéon in 1791 with his heart kept apart, and a legend says his bones were thrown away in 1814Voltaire returned to Paris in February 1778 for the opening of his tragedy Irène and died there aged 83. Because he had not retracted his criticism of the Church, he was denied a Christian burial in Paris.jackboulware.substack.com and 3 moreAI illustration: Framed and unframed artworks stacked in a Munich flat, 20122014 · MunichA recluse found with 1,406 artworks in his Munich flat left them all to a Swiss museum, and his cousin said he was not of sound mindCornelius Gurlitt's father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, was a museum director and art dealer who sold Nazi-looted art. Cornelius inherited the collection after his mother died in 1968.Internet Archive and 4 moreRoald Dahl: Uitreiking Gouden Griffel en Penseel in Utrecht. Roald Dahl (l) en Nannie Kuiper 13 oktober 19821990 · Great Missenden, EnglandNetflix bought the Roald Dahl Story Company in September 2021 for a reported 500 million pounds, about $686 millionRoald Dahl died in 1990 aged 74. His family kept control of his catalogue through the Roald Dahl Story Company, run by his grandson Luke Kelly as managing director.finance.yahoo.com and 3 moreSalvador Dalí: Salvador Dalí 19391989 · Figueres, Catalonia, SpainA Madrid judge had Salvador Dalí exhumed for a paternity test 28 years after his death, and the DNA said noDalí died of cardiac arrest at 84 and was buried in the crypt under the stage of his own Theatre-Museum in Figueres. His wife Gala had died in 1982. They had no children. Dalí left his estate to the Spanish state.The Art Newspaper and 4 moreJorge Luis Borges: Jorge Luis Borges 1951, by Grete Stern (full)1986 · Geneva, SwitzerlandBorges left everything to the woman he married seven weeks before he died; she died without a willMaría Kodama became Jorge Luis Borges's literary secretary after his mother died in 1975. Borges left her his author's rights in a 1979 will and his whole estate in 1985.The New York Times and 3 moreMarc Chagall: Shagal Choumoff1985 · Saint-Paul-de-Vence, FranceChagall's heirs paid his death duties with 46 paintings and 406 drawings, and his granddaughters' committee seized a £100,000 fake to destroy itMarc Chagall died on 28 March 1985, aged 97. His heirs were his widow Valentina "Vava" Brodsky, his daughter Ida by his first wife Bella, and his son David McNeil by Virginia Haggard.centrepompidou.fr and 5 moreVladimir Nabokov: Vladimir Nabokov 19731977 · Montreux, SwitzerlandNabokov told his wife to burn his last novel; it sat in a Swiss bank vault for 32 years before their son published itWhen Vladimir Nabokov died he was writing The Original of Laura, a novel drafted in pencil on 138 index cards. He asked that the manuscript be destroyed, and told his wife, Véra, to burn it. She did not.mg.co.za and 2 moreJulie Christie: Julie Christie (1997) (2)1976 · ParisThe Man Ray Trust said in 2021 that 148 of 188 lots in a Christie's Paris sale of his assistant's collection lacked clear title; Christie's sold themMan Ray married Juliet Browner in 1946. When he died in 1976 she founded the Man Ray Trust. After she died in 1991 her family continued it. His assistant Lucien Treillard died in 2004.insidehook.com and 3 moreJ. R. R. Tolkien: J. R. R. Tolkien, ca. 19251973 · Bournemouth, EnglandThe Tolkien estate sued New Line for $150 million, saying it had received nothing from three films that earned billionsTolkien sold film rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in 1969, under an agreement with United Artists. That deal gave the Tolkien Trust 7.5 per cent of gross profits.awn.com and 3 moreAlberto Giacometti: Title [Giacometti] PK-F-A.06801 Creator/other Andriesse, Emmy (1914-1953) Shelfmark PK-F-A.06801 Subject (topical) PortraitsMen (male humans)ArtistsSculptors Su1966 · Chur, SwitzerlandA forger sold about 1,300 fake Giacometti sculptures over ten years, German police seized more than 1,150 suspect works in 2009, and a Stuttgart court gave dealers two-year suspended sentencesAlberto Giacometti died in 1966 without children. His widow Annette set up the Giacometti Association in 1986 as a placeholder until the foundation named in his will could exist. She died in 1993.The Art Newspaper and 3 moreW. Somerset Maugham: Maugham retouched1965 · FranceSomerset Maugham tried to disinherit his daughter in 1962 to adopt his secretary Alan Searle; a 21-month case in British and French courts barred the adoptionSomerset Maugham, in his late 80s, was cared for by his secretary and companion Alan Searle. Around the time of his 1962 memoir Looking Back, which denied that Liza was his daughter, he tried to disinherit her and adopt Searle.spectator.com and 3 moreAI illustration: Boris Pasternak's wooden dacha at Peredelkino in snow, 19601960 · Peredelkino, USSREleven weeks after Boris Pasternak died, the Soviet state arrested his companion over his Doctor Zhivago royalties and sent her to a camp for eight yearsDoctor Zhivago was refused publication in the Soviet Union and first appeared in Italy in 1957. Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1958 and was forced to decline it. Royalties built up abroad.zhivagostorm.org and 3 moreRichard Wright: Portrait of Richard Wright1960 · Eugene Gibez clinic, ParisRichard Wright died in a Paris clinic in 1960; his daughter and friends said the US government may have had him killedRichard Wright, 52, went to the Eugene Gibez clinic in Paris with stomach pain and amoebic dysentery and died that night, 28 November 1960. The recorded cause was a heart attack. He had no known heart trouble.fbeyes.wustl.edu and 3 moreAI illustration: A picture book left open on a windowsill above the harbour at Nice, 19521952 · Nice, FranceThe author of Goodnight Moon left her royalties to a neighbour's nine-year-old son, who spent the millionsMargaret Wise Brown wrote Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Her partner from 1940, Blanche Oelrichs, who wrote as Michael Strange, died in 1950.The New Yorker and 3 moreGustave Courbet: Gustave Courbet, photograph Atelier Nadar, c. 1860s1877 · La Tour-de-Peilz, SwitzerlandGustave Courbet was billed 323,000 francs to rebuild the Vendôme Column and died in Swiss exile in 1877Gustave Courbet proposed on 4 September 1870 that the Vendôme Column, topped by a statue of Napoleon, be taken down. The Paris Commune pulled it down on 16 May 1871. Courbet was arrested on 7 June 1871.bonjourparis.com and 2 moreFriedrich Schiller: Portrait of Friedrich Schillerlabel QS:Len,"Portrait of Friedrich Schiller"label QS:Lfr,"Portrait de Friedrich Schiller"1805 · Weimar, GermanyWeimar buried a skull as Friedrich Schiller's in 1827; DNA tests in 2008 showed it and the skeleton were not hisSchiller died on 9 May 1805 and was buried three days later in the Kassengewölbe, a common vault in Weimar's Jacobs cemetery.NBC News and 2 moreGhassan Kanafani: Historical portrait photograph of Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani.1972 · Beirut, LebanonA car bomb killed Ghassan Kanafani and his 17-year-old niece in Beirut on 8 July 1972, and Mossad is reported to have claimed responsibilityGhassan Kanafani, a Palestinian novelist and spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was 36 when a bomb in his Austin 1100 exploded as he turned on the ignition in Beirut on 8 July 1972.middleeasteye.net and 2 moreIlia Chavchavadze: Ilia Tchavtchavadze1907 · Road from Tbilisi to Saguramo, near Mtskheta, GeorgiaIlia Chavchavadze was shot dead on the road to his Saguramo estate in 1907, and the Georgian church made him a saint in 1987Chavchavadze, a Georgian poet and public figure, was killed on the road from Tbilisi to his estate at Saguramo. Wikipedia and OrthodoxWiki date the killing to 28 August 1907; the Orthodox Church in America says 30 August.oca.org and 3 moreChristopher Marlowe: Unknown 21-year old man, supposed to be Christopher Marlowe title QS:P1476,en:"Unknown 21-year old man, supposed to be C1593 · Deptford, EnglandChristopher Marlowe was stabbed to death in a Deptford house on 30 May 1593 by a man later pardoned in 28 days, and the inquest record was found in 1925Christopher Marlowe, 29, died on 30 May 1593 in a room hired at the house of Dame Eleanor Bull in Deptford. With him were Ingram Frizer, Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley, all tied to the secret service or to Thomas Walsingham.archive.spectator.co.uk and 3 moreRobert Burns: Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796. Poet title QS:P1476,en:"Robert Burns, 1759 - 1796. Poet "label QS:Len,"Robert Burns, 1759 - 11796 · Dumfries, ScotlandRobert Burns's widow died in 1834, and local men opened his tomb at night to cast his skull for a phrenologistBurns was buried in St. Michael's Churchyard, Dumfries, in 1796. In 1815 his body was moved to a mausoleum in the same churchyard.Project Gutenberg and 3 moreMiguel de Cervantes: Portrait of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra commonly said to be that which, according to the prologue to Cervantes' "Exemplary Novels", was painted by Juan de Jáu1616 · Madrid, SpainSpain announced in March 2015 that it had found Cervantes among bones of 15 to 17 people in a Madrid convent, with no DNA to confirm itMiguel de Cervantes died in Madrid on 22 April 1616 and, as his will directed, was buried in the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians, the order that had paid his ransom from captivity in 1580.Internet Archive and 3 moreFranz Kafka: Franz Kafka, 19231924 · Kierling, Austria; Tel AvivKafka told Max Brod to burn his papers; Brod saved them, and the fight over them ended in a Swiss bank vault in 2019Franz Kafka died of tuberculosis of the larynx in a sanatorium at Kierling, Austria, aged 40. He had already burned much of his work.historynewsnetwork.org and 3 moreMarcel Proust: Otto Wegener Proust vers 1895 bis1922 · Paris, FranceProust's sister-in-law burned his papers after her husband died in 1935, and a perfume heir bought his furniture for 1,500 francsMarcel Proust died in Paris in 1922. His younger brother Robert was his literary executor and the only person who knew how Time Regained was meant to end.bnf.fr and 3 moreAmedeo Modigliani: Amedeo Modigliani in his studio1920 · ParisModigliani died poor, his partner jumped from a window the next day, and Italian police later closed a Modigliani show for fakesAmedeo Modigliani died of tubercular meningitis at 35. The next day his pregnant partner, Jeanne Hébuterne, jumped from her parents' apartment window. Their infant daughter was raised by Modigliani's family in Italy.itsartlaw.org and 4 moreAuguste Rodin: Auguste Rodin by George Charles Beresford (NPG x6573)1917 · Meudon, FranceRodin gave all his works and reproduction rights to France in 1916, and the Musee Rodin spent 18 years in court over about 1,700 casts it called fakesIn 1916, the year before his death, Auguste Rodin gave the French state all his plaster, marble, bronze and stone works, his drawings, his antiquities and his intellectual property rights.musee-rodin.fr and 3 moreLeo Tolstoy: Leo Tolstoy 1908 Portrait (3x4 cropped)1910 · Astapovo railway station, RussiaTolstoy signed a secret will in the woods to give his copyrights to the publicBy 1910 Leo Tolstoy wanted his writings to belong to everyone. His wife Sofia, with whom he had 13 children, wanted the copyrights kept in the family. His disciple Vladimir Chertkov arranged a new will.Project Gutenberg and 4 morePaul Cézanne: Paul-Cezanne1906 · Aix-en-Provence, FranceCézanne's 1902 will left everything to his son and nothing to his wife Hortense, and they sold his studio to Vollard for 275,000 francsPaul Cézanne lived with Hortense Fiquet for years in secret, partly for fear that his father would cut his allowance.spectator.com and 3 moreGustave Caillebotte: Gustave Caillebotte photo c18781894 · Gennevilliers, FranceGustave Caillebotte left France more than 60 Impressionist works in 1894; the state refused part and hung 38 in 1897Gustave Caillebotte died in 1894, leaving his Impressionist collection to the French state and naming Renoir executor. His brother Martial pressed with Renoir for the conditions of the bequest to be kept.musee-orsay.fr and 3 moreThomas Lawrence: Self-portrait of Sir Thomas Lawrence P.R.A. title QS:P1476,en:"Self-portrait of Sir Thomas Lawrence P.R.A. "label QS:Len1830 · LondonThomas Lawrence died in debt in 1830 and the nation refused his Old Master drawings for £18,000, so a dealer who was his main creditor took themThomas Lawrence died suddenly on 7 January 1830, aged 60, and was buried in St Paul's on 21 January. He was insolvent.archive.spectator.co.uk and 3 morePablo Neruda, escritor y poeta entregando papeles a un hombre1973 · Santiago, ChileChile dug up Pablo Neruda 40 years after the 1973 coup, and scientists found botulism bacteria in his toothNeruda died in a Santiago clinic 12 days after the military coup. The regime's version was prostate cancer. His family and Chile's Communist Party said he was killed by state agents.jurist.org and 3 moreJohn Woodhouse Audubon: John Woodhouse Audubon1851 · New York CityAudubon's widow sold the Birds of America copper plates in 1870 and buyers melted most of them for scrapJohn James Audubon had 435 copper plates engraved, mostly by Robert Havell Jr. of London from 1827 to 1838, to print The Birds of America. Each plate was about two by three feet and weighed up to 37 pounds.yalealumnimagazine.com and 3 moreMolière: French: Molière Molièretitle QS:P1476,fr:"Molière "label QS:Lfr,"Molière "label QS:Len,"Molière"1673 · Paris, FranceMolière died in 1673 after collapsing in his own play; priests refused him last rites, and Louis XIV allowed a night burialMolière collapsed during a performance of his play Le Malade imaginaire, first staged on 10 February 1673, and died a few hours later at home, aged 51. He died without receiving the last rites.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 moreHorace Walpole: Portrait of Horace Walpole (1717-1797)1797 · London, EnglandHorace Walpole's Strawberry Hill collection was sold off over 24 days in 1842 after heirs spent the family fortuneWalpole died in 1797 and Strawberry Hill passed first to his cousin Anne Seymour Damer, then to John Waldegrave, a grandson of Maria Walpole.The Guardian and 1 moreCharles Dickens: Dickens Gurney head1870 · Gad's Hill Place, KentDickens left £1,000 to the actress he hid for 12 years, and burned 20 years of letters in his gardenCharles and Catherine Dickens separated in May 1858 after 22 years of marriage. A story of the time says Catherine opened a jeweller's packet holding a gold bracelet meant for Ellen Ternan, an actress then 18.gresham.ac.uk and 3 moreLord Byron: Portrait of Lord Byron, British poet (1788–1824)label QS:Len,"Portrait of Lord Byron, British poet (1788–1824)"1824 · Missolonghi, GreeceByron's friends tore up and burned his memoirs in his publisher's fireplace four weeks after he diedByron wrote his memoirs and gave the manuscript to his friend the poet Thomas Moore, to be published after his death. Moore sold it to the publisher John Murray II.amdigital.co.uk and 3 moreJohn Keats: John Keats1821 · Rome, Papal StatesKeats's letters to Fanny Brawne were published in 1878 over objections and sold at Sotheby's in 1885 for £543 17sKeats died in Rome aged 25 and was buried on 26 February 1821 in the Protestant Cemetery.library.harvard.edu and 3 moreMarquis de Sade: Portrait of Marquis de Sade (1740-1814)1814 · Charenton asylum, FranceThe manuscript of Sade's 120 Days of Sodom was smuggled into Switzerland in 1982, sold for 7 million euros in 2014, and bought by France for 4.55 million euros in 2021Sade wrote The 120 Days of Sodom in 37 days in his Bastille cell, on a parchment scroll about 39 feet long. He was moved to Charenton on 4 July 1789 and left it behind.thelocal.ch and 3 moreJohannes Vermeer: The Procuress.1675 · Delft, Dutch RepublicVermeer died with 11 children and debts; his widow paid creditors in paintings and petitioned for bankruptcyThe Franco-Dutch War cut the art market. Vermeer took losses on the paintings he dealt in and could not sell his own. In 1675 he borrowed money in Amsterdam by using his mother-in-law Maria Thins's name without authority.Wikipedia (English) and 1 moreEdvard Munch: Portrait of Edvard Munch (cropped)1944 · OsloArmed men took Munch's The Scream and Madonna from Oslo's Munch Museum in 2004, a court ordered two thieves to pay the city 750 million kroner, and police recovered both in 2006Edvard Munch made a will about 1940 leaving his entire estate to the City of Oslo. The city holds it in the Munch Museum.The Irish Times and 3 moreWilliam Shakespeare: Portrait of William Shakespeare (1564-1646) title QS:P1476,en:"Portrait of William Shakespeare (1564-1646) "label QS:Len1616 · Stratford-upon-AvonShakespeare left his wife his "second best bed" and struck his new son-in-law out of the willIn January 1616 William Shakespeare called the lawyer Francis Collins and had a draft will made. He did not sign it. In February his younger daughter Judith married Thomas Quiney.nationalarchives.gov.uk and 3 moreMichelangelo: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) title QS:P1476,en:"Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) "label QS:Len,"Michelangelo B1564 · Rome, Papal StatesMichelangelo's nephew smuggled his body out of Rome to Florence in a bale of goods in March 1564, ahead of the pope's tomb planMichelangelo died in Rome shortly before 5 p.m. on 18 February 1564, weeks before his 89th birthday. Romans regarded him as theirs.dailyartmagazine.com and 3 moreDante Alighieri: Bargello - Kapelle Fresko 2a1321 · Ravenna, ItalyFlorence demanded Dante's bones for 200 years; friars took them out of the tomb, and a worker found them in 1865Florence exiled Dante, and he died in Ravenna in 1321. He was buried in a Roman sarcophagus outside the Franciscan cloister.Wikipedia (English)Elisabetta Sirani: Self-portrait1665 · Bologna, Papal StatesElisabetta Sirani died at 27 in Bologna in 1665; her father charged the maid with poisoning her and then withdrew the chargeElisabetta Sirani ran her father's Bologna workshop from about 1654, after gout disabled Giovanni Andrea Sirani. Her portraits and teaching supported the household. She died in August 1665, aged 27, after severe stomach pain.theflorentine.net and 3 moreAlexander Pope: Alexander Pope title QS:P1476,en:"Alexander Pope "label QS:Len,"Alexander Pope "335 BCE · Thebes (Thiva), GreeceAlexander razed Thebes and sold its people into slavery, but spared the house and descendants of the poet PindarPindar was a lyric poet of Thebes. In 335 BC Thebes revolted against Alexander. Alexander stormed the city. Plutarch says more than 6,000 Thebans were killed and more than 30,000 sold as slaves.livingpoets.awh.durham.ac.uk and 2 moreSophocles: Sophocles pushkin406 BCE · Athens, GreeceCicero says Sophocles' son sued to take his estate on the ground that he was senile, and Sophocles read his new play to the courtSophocles kept writing tragedies into his nineties. Cicero says his sons took him to court and asked the judges to remove his control of the family property because he was neglecting it through dementia.livingpoets.awh.durham.ac.uk and 3 moreAI illustration: An eagle drops a tortoise over the coast at Gela, Sicily, 456 BCLegend · 456 BCE · Gela, SicilyLegend: Aeschylus died at Gela in 456 or 455 BC when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his headAeschylus returned to Sicily for the last time in 458 BC and died at Gela in 456 or 455 BC. The manner of his death is legend, not documented history.perseus.tufts.edu and 2 moreThe full album is known as Gathering Gems of Beauty (畫麗珠萃秀).: This painting depicts Cai Wenji (蔡文姬).192 · Chang'an (Xi'an), ChinaThe Hou Han Shu says Cai Yong begged to be mutilated so he could finish his history, died in prison, and his ransomed daughter rewrote 400 of his 4,000 books from memoryCai Yong was a scholar and official of the late Han. The Hou Han Shu records that when the warlord Dong Zhuo was killed in 192, Cai Yong sighed in front of the minister Wang Yun. Wang Yun had him arrested.zh.wikisource.org and 2 moreBan Gu: Ban Gu92 · Luoyang, ChinaBan Gu died in a magistrate's prison with the Book of Han unfinished, and the emperor ordered his sister Ban Zhao to complete itThe history of the Former Han was a family project. Ban Biao began it. His son Ban Gu continued it for decades. Ban Gu served the general Dou Xian.zh.wikisource.org and 2 moreDomenichino: Portrait de Domenichino (1581-1641)Legend · 1641 · NaplesLegend: Domenichino died in Naples in April 1641 and was said to have been poisoned by rival painters; the one early biographer cited blames his relativesDomenichino worked in Naples in his last years. Art historians link him to the Cabal of Naples, local painters said to have tried to drive out outside artists.Artnet News and 3 more