Art ping!
Let Republicanprofessor, me or woofie know if you want on or off the art ping list.
This post brings up the interesting question of private vs public property, IMO. I'm not so sure that anyone can say that certain art objects "belong" to or were stolen from a given country, especially as some of these countries may not have existed consistently.
I'm not so sure this is cultural or even economic thing, so much as it is natural human inclination to fail to appreciate the familiar, and an endemic quality of the artistic temperment. In microcosm, I know that I've treated a number of my own sketches, paintings, etc. with a cavalier and generally careless attitude, as to me they're nothing particularly special or that can't be done again (better), yet others have found them in a sketchbook, cabinet, frame etc. and admonished me, 'you really ought to take better care of these,' or 'I can't believe you treat your own work like this....'