French Fashion Designer Sued Over ‘Illegal’ Botticelli Ripoffs

ROME—French fashion’s bad boy Jean-Paul Gaultier is being sued by Italy’s prestigious Ufizzi Gallery after unleashing a collection of what some consider distasteful men’s and women’s clothing depicting the copyrighted masterpieces of Italian painter Sandro Botticelli.

The line, which includes Botticelli’s Birth of Venus stamped on bandeau scarves, t-shirts and palazzo pants, was released in April, after which the Uffizi sent a cease and desist letter—which they say was ignored.

Now the Uffizi confirms to The Daily Beast that they have begun legal proceedings to sue the French designer for using the images without consent or payment. “According to the Cultural Heritage Code, in fact, the use of images of Italian public property is compulsorily subject to a specific authorization and to the payment of a fee,” the Uffizi said in a statement. “Faced with this illegal behavior, the legal department of the Galleries immediately activated.”

Gaultier should have paid a licensing fee to use the images, the gallery says, as other famous designers have been required to do over the centuries. The lawsuit seeks damages in line with what those licensing fees might have been, and is not expected to exceed $125,000, according to the museum.

The designer is selling the frocks from between $125 for a Birth of Venus scarf to nearly $600 for a dress depicting the nude nymph the Italian master painted in the late 1480s.

This is not the first time a major museum has threatened litigation over the unauthorized use of its collection. In July 2021, the Louvre in Paris and the Uffizi threatened to sue PornHub after adult actors re-enacted scenes depicted in a number of paintings. The adult entertainment site eventually removed the special edition “Show Me the Nudes” and replaced it with a less controversial series called, “Remastured.”

Requests for comment from the designer were not immediately answered.

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