Saturday, November 03,

Italy Antiquities Crackdown Involves Art and Archaeologists.

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Italy is a veritable country/museum from "hip to toe", and certainly is not in NEED of all the artifacts it is pursuing and deserves.

 

The drive however involves a deeper issue that has long pitted the art collectors against archaeologists.

 

To the archaeologists, not only is the artifact important, but what the objects reveal about the lives and customs of their makers, which is best divined by studying them where they're found, typically in graves or other archaeological digs.

 

Italy is being Tenacious, and has been so far very successful, which will not only recover many treasures, but will discourage looting, and disturbing of important archaeology sites.

 

Principle is at Heart of Antiquities Crackdown

Minneapolis Star Tribune  - Minneapolis,MN,USA

By Mary Abbe
November 02, 2007

In pursuing the return of antiquities from the Getty Villa museum, the Italian government is acting to reinforce an important principle, more than its need for antiquities. For decades art collectors and archaeologists have been at odds. Collectors and art historians value antiquities primarily for their aesthetic qualities -- the beauty and refinement of their design. Archaeologists are especially concerned about context, that is, what the objects reveal about the lives and customs of their makers, which is best divined by studying them where they're found, typically in graves or other archaeological digs.

In pursuing the return of antiquities from the Getty Villa museum, the Italian government is acting to reinforce an important principle, more than its need for antiquities. For decades art collectors and archaeologists have been at odds. Collectors and art historians value antiquities primarily for their aesthetic qualities -- the beauty and refinement of their design. Archaeologists are especially concerned about context, that is, what the objects reveal about the lives and customs of their makers, which is best divined by studying them where they're found, typically in graves or other archaeological digs.

Grave robbers, of course, don't give a hoot about scholarship. They just want to get the most money possible, which means selling to rich collectors who may or may not know they're buying hot property. The sales are done through intermediaries and posh galleries or auction houses in London, New York and elsewhere.

Within the past 10 years, governments of many antiquities-rich countries including Italy, Greece, Turkey and Mexico have cracked down on commerce in ancient artifacts. Last year New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art agreed to return to Italy a number of objects the Italians claimed had been dug up illegally. The Italians questioned the origins of a Greek vase owned by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, too, but have not pursued a claim to it. A former Getty antiquities curator, Marian True, has been on trial for the past year in Italy and Greece for allegedly buying looted goods for the museum. Long respected in the museum world, True oversaw renovation of the Getty Villa and co-authored with architect Jorge Silvetti a 2005 book about the project.

 

 

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