Vatican issues a street art stamp, ends up getting sued

A Rome street artist has sued the Vatican in a Rome court for having used her poster art image of Christ for its Easter 2020 postage stamp without her knowledge or approval

ROME -- One night in early 2019, Rome street artist Alessia Babrow glued a stylized image of Christ she had made onto a bridge near the Vatican. A year later, she was shocked to learn that the Vatican had apparently used a reproduction of her image, which featured her hallmark heart emblazoned across Christ’s chest, as its 2020 Easter postage stamp. Babrow sued the Vatican City State’s telecommunications office in a Rome court last month, alleging it was wrongfully profiting off her creativity and was violating the original intent of her artwork. The lawsuit, which is seeking nearly 130,000 euros in damages, said the Vatican never responded officially to Babrow’s attempts to negotiate a settlement after she discovered it had used her image without her consent and then allegedly sold it. “I couldn’t believe it. I honestly thought it was a joke,” Babrow told The Associated Press in an interview, steps from St. Peter’s Square. “The real shock was that you don’t expect certain things from certain organizations.” The Vatican is home to some of the greatest artworks ever made, and it vigorously protects its right to reproduce them by enforcing its copyright over everything from the Sistine Chapel to Michelangelo’s Pieta. But now the tables have turned, and the Vatican stands accused of violating the intellectual property rights of a street artist.