Thursday,
June 15, 2006
The
ANNOTICO Report
One
by one, museums in dispute with the Italian government over looted antiquities
are reaching agreement.
Two
factors continue to dog the talks: (1) the sheer volume of material that the
Italians want the Getty to return, (52 precious objects), including some of the
museum's most prized possessions, and (2) the criminal prosecution
of former Getty antiquities curator Marion True.
Officially, the True trial and the broader issue of what antiquities the Getty
will return are separate matters. Inevitably, however, the two are intertwined,
locked in a poisonous embrace in which actions taken in support of one could
badly hurt the other.
AN ACCORD BETWEEN
THE GETTY AND
The
trial of a former curator over alleged trafficking in antiquities makes any
pact on returning museum items harder.
By
Tracy Wilkinson and Livia Borghese
Times Staff Writers
June 15, 2006
Alone stands the J. Paul Getty Museum, whose exceedingly complicated
negotiations with
Two factors continue to dog the talks, which are scheduled to resume this month:
the sheer volume of material that the Italians want the Getty to return,
including some of the museum's most prized possessions, and the criminal
prosecution of former Getty antiquities curator Marion True.
Officially, the True trial and the broader issue of what, if any, antiquities
the Getty will return are separate matters. Inevitably, however, the two are i! ntertwined,
locked in a poisonous embrace in which actions taken in support of one could
badly hurt the other.
True has denied Italian charges that she conspired with art dealers either
implicated in or convicted of involvement in the massive antiquity-trafficking
network that illegally has channeled valuable pieces to the world's museums and
private collectors for decades. If she were to change course and admit guilt,
she could probably escape jail time. But her admissions might weaken the
Getty's bargaining position.
The Getty, on the other hand, could follow the Met's
lead and agree to a program of returning objects and then borrowing them back.
But doing so might jeopardize True's ability to defend herself. Or, if True
felt abandoned by the Getty, she might turn on her former employer and
implicate the rich institution in other wrongdoing.
True was forced to step down in October from the curatorship
she had held for 19 years, but the Getty is paying ! her legal bills. Her attorneys confirmed a number of
contacts with Getty representatives during the trial, which began nearly 11
months ago.
Faced with this quandary, Getty officials have tried to open several
alternative channels in their negotiations, in what some Italian officials
think is an effort to find a more sympathetic ear in the government.
Italian negotiators are demanding that the Getty agree to give back all 52
precious objects that figure in the case against True. Several, such as a
2,400-year-old marble statue of the goddess Aphrodite, have been on display for
years at the
Ronald Olson, the top-gun attorney hired by the Getty as outside counsel to
sort out the mess, spent several days here in late! May and
early June to explore new contacts with the Italians. Olson declined to
discuss these meetings in detail, saying the issue was at too sensitive a
point.
"Getty is seriously interested in resolving its difficulties with
According to other sources, Olson elicited the help of U.S. Ambassador Ronald Spogli, a prominent equities investor in
Olson also apparently secured a meeting for Getty Museum Director Michael Brand
with
Rutelli confirmed last week that he would meet with
Brand, but he insisted that
"Our request for the restitution of all of the trafficked works and I say all is our priority," Rutelli told the Italian daily Il Messaggero.
"This is in the interest of the American museums, as well. This explains
to the trustees and officials that the period of great plunder is over."
Brand also met with Italian diplomats in
Itali! an prosecutors in the
True case, frustrated at what they see as a lack of cooperation from the former
curator, consider it a misjudgment for the Getty to hold off on settling with
Lead prosecutor Paolo Ferri said he favored offering
leniency to True and her co-defendant, 87-year-old art dealer Robert E. Hecht
Jr., if they were to admit guilt and describe the nuts and bolts of the
antiquity-trafficking network. Ferri said he was more
interested in information and sending a message of deterrence than seeing True
and Hecht behind bars.
"We are not dealing with hardened criminals here," Ferri said.
True's lead attorney, Franco Coppi, and lawyers for
Hecht did not respond to phone calls seeking comments for this article.
The trial itself has dragged on since opening in July. In 11
! hearings, Ferri and
the prosecution have presented hundreds of Polaroid snapshots and documents
confiscated in raids on dealers' warehouses. The material shows archeological
artifacts sculptures, frescoes,
vases, urns and so forth still
caked with dirt or wrapped in newsprint, evidence of having been freshly dug up
from
It is illegal to excavate antiquities in
In the most recent hearing, on May 31, prosecutors presented a picture of two
magnificent marble griffins, mythical eagle-headed lion-like beasts, covered in
dirt and plopped in the trunk of a car. The picture was confiscated in a raid
on a warehouse belonging to Giacomo Medici, an
earlier co-defendant of True's who was convicted last year. Experts testified
that the ancient statuary could be traced to southern
True's attorneys have not sought to refute the evidence, but rather have said
she purchased items in good faith, unaware of their murky origin.
The next hearing is set for Wednesday.
Italian officials say that whether or not they get a conviction of True and
Hecht, their point has been made: The illegal theft of archeological patrimony
must stop. Ferri cites a recent case of 15 Etruscan
vases that were being sold on the black market for a fraction of their value,
evidence that
"The political meaning of this trial is now irreversible," Ferri said.
Outside experts agree, to a point. Valerie Higgins, an archeology expert and
chair of the arts and humanities department at the
The case "certainly made people a lot more cautious," she said.
"The idea of going around the world buying objects and taking them home is
really the modus operandi of another era. In the past, it was convenient to
turn a blind eye, but I don't think they would do that today." But she
said that private collectors, subject to less scrutiny and less likely to be
confined by scruples, would not be deterred.
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