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Extremadura

Lessons from the Denney Collection

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Press Selection 
La Dépêche du Midi, the regional newspaper for Toulouse and the Midi Pyrenees Region, has thoroughly covered every development in the Denney story since early 1993.  It presents both sidesof the story: on the one hand,  the Mayor of Toulouse, seen in the company of Anthony Denney's widow, with George Mathieu's "Battle of Hastings" in the background, gratefully accepting a gift from heaven that can scarcely be refused; on the other hand, the Denney heirs' presenting the case that they may prove to have rights of inheritance under Spanish Law and that their investigations show that the so-called Donation Denney isn't a gift at all, but a barter arrangement.

The Art Newspaper,  "Letters from beyond the grave" (January 1994), suggests that paintings donated to the city of Toulouse by photographer Anthony Denney seem to have been given on the basis of forged letters. Jacques Dupeyron, Celia Denney's lawyer in Toulouse, admitted to the Art Newspaper that his client wrote a letter to the Dallas Museum of Art dated 22 August 1990, four months after Denney's death, signed in his name. When asked why, Dupeyron said: "My client simply wanted to simplify matters." It quotes Paul Battan, the lawyer representing the city of Toulouse as saying that the affair is between Celia Denney and the children. "We consider Celia Denney to be the only legatee by virtue of British Law and the city had an absolute right to accept this donation. Had it refused, it would have betrayed the interests of its citizens. If the verdict of the Spanish Court regarding the will is favourable to the children, they will have to ask for the donation to be nullified."
 
 
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