Thursday, August 02, 2007

Getty Museum Capitulates to Italy, Returns 40 Disputed Antiquities

The ANNOTICO Report

 

The Day before Italy had set as an Ultimatum for the Deadline for Agreement, Getty Museum agreed to return to Italy FORTY (40) Disputed Looted Antiquities.

 

This has been an embarrassing episode for the Getty "which has stringently tightened its acquisition standards" and is a triumph for the current Italian minister of culture, Francesco Rutelli.

Italy has one of the strictest laws governing its cultural property, and Rutelli has been relentless in his quest to get American museums to hand back suspect pieces.The Getty return is by far the greatest.

A  seven-foot-high marble-and-limestone statue of the goddess "Aphrodite", is the centerpiece of the returning treasure trove,The mammoth fifth-century B.C. goddess is thought to have been looted from the site of an ancient Greek settlement in Sicily. The Getty bought it for $18 million in 1988 from a London dealer,

 

Despite the agreement, the fate of the other SIX (6) treasures was left to further investigations /discussions. including one important piece that had held up negotiations for months: the "Statue of a Victorious Athlete" a Greek bronze believed to date from around 300 B.C.

 

 

Italy Reaches Deal with Getty Museum for Return of 40 Disputed Antiquities


International Herald Tribune

The Associated Press

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

ROME: The Italian Culture Ministry and the J. Paul Getty Museum said they have reached an agreement for the return of 40 artifacts to Italy  including a prized statue of the goddess Aphrodite. It was the latest victory in Italy's efforts to recover antiquities it says were looted from the country and sold to museums worldwide.

Italy and the Getty also agreed on widespread cultural cooperation, which will include loans of other treasures to the Los Angeles museum, the two sides said in a joint statement released Wednesday.

"Both parties declare themselves satisfied with the fact that, after long and complicated negotiations, an agreement has been reached and now they move ahead with a relationship of renewed cooperation," the statement said.

The Getty has denied knowingly buying illegally obtained objects.

It was not immediately clear if the agreement would affect the trial in Rome of two Americans - former Getty curator Marion True and art dealer Robert Hecht - who were brought to court in July 2005 as Italy stepped up its campaign to deter the art world from dealing in artifacts of dubious provenance.

The two have been charged with knowingly receiving dozens of archaeological treasures that had been stolen from private collections or dug up illicitly. Both deny wrongdoing.

Under the agreement announced Wednesday, most of the artifacts will be returned to Italy within the next few months, according to a calendar drawn up by experts from both sides.

The agreement followed 1 1/2 years of talks and left the Getty with confidence that "there's a very bright future," museum Director Michael Brand said during a telephone interview in California.

If questions are raised about other objects in the Getty collection, the museum and Italian officials agreed to work together "in a cordial, collegial, constructive manner" to resolve them, he said.

The agreement also includes one of the most disputed works, a 5th century B.C. statue of the goddess Aphrodite, which will remain on display at the Getty until 2010, the ministry said. Italian authorities believe the 2.2-meter (7-foot) statue, bought by the Getty for US$18 million in 1988, was looted from an ancient Greek settlement in Sicily.

The Culture Ministry said it would release further details on the agreement at a news conference scheduled for Thursday morning.

Following more than a year of negotiations, the ministry had threatened to suspend all collaboration with the Getty if a deal was not reached by the end of July. And, despite the agreement, the fate of some treasures was left hanging.

The statement said the two sides agreed to postpone further discussion on at least one important piece that had held up negotiations for months: the "Statue of a Victorious Athlete," a Greek bronze believed to date from around 300 B.C.

The museum believes the bronze was found in international waters in 1964 off Italy's eastern coast and that Rome has no claim on it. The Italians say the statue was pulled up by fishermen off Fano and that, even if the find occurred in international waters, the statue was still brought into the country and then exported illegally.

Italian authorities have launched a worldwide campaign to recover looted treasures and had been at odds with the Getty over dozens of antiquities they say were illegally dug up and smuggled out of the country despite laws making all antiquities found in Italy state property.

Authorities have signed separate deals with New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for the return of a total of 34 artifacts  including Hellenistic silverware, Etruscan vases and Roman statues  in exchange for loans of other treasures.

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (and are Archived) on:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com [Formerly Italy at St Louis] (7 years)

Italia Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com (3 years)

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net