50 years after flood, damaged Renaissance painting restored

A 16th-century painting by Renaissance artist Giorgio Vasari that was badly damaged in a 1966 flood in Florence was unveiled to the public Friday after years of painstaking restoration.

Vasari created "The Last Supper" for a convent of cloistered nuns. Because the nuns eschewed contact with men, and because the work was large — 6.6 meters by 2.6 meters (21 ½ feet by 8 1/2 feet) — Vasari painted it in his studio on five wood panels that could be easily transported and recomposed in the convent.

Facebook nude-painting case can face trial in France

If you post a 19th-century nude painting on Facebook, is it art or impermissible nudity? That question is now cleared for trial in France, after an appeals court there ruled that an aggrieved user can sue the social network over the issue.

Five years ago, Facebook suspended the account of Frederic Durand-Baissas, a 57-year-old Parisian teacher and art lover, without prior notice. That was the day he posted a photo of Gustave Courbet's 1866 painting "The Origin of the World," which depicts female genitalia.

Venezuela welcomes back stolen Matisse painting

A painting by Henri Matisse stolen more than a decade ago from a museum in Venezuela made its homecoming Monday.