The Hindu : Front Page : Getty museum to return 40 art works to Italy

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Friday, Aug 03, 2007
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Getty museum to return 40 art works to Italy

John Hooper

ROME: The Italian Government on Wednesday claimed partial victory in its campaign to get the return of art works it says were stolen and smuggled out of the country on behalf of America’s richest art institution.

The culture ministry said that after “long and complex negotiation,” a deal had been reached with the Getty museum in Los Angeles to restore 40 objects.

A fifth century B.C. statue of Aphrodite, believed to be from the ancient city of Morgantina on Sicily, is to remain in the U.S. for a further three years before returning.

The deal was Italy’s third such: the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts have already agreed to return jewels of their collections in exchange for the loans of works of equivalent value.

Last month, Francesco Rutelli, the culture minister and a deputy Prime Minister in the centre-left government, threatened to sever all links with Getty if an accord were not reached by August. At that stage, Getty executives were insisting they would only return 26 objects, and exclude the Morgantina Aphrodite.

Marion True, a former curator at the Getty, and Robert Hecht, an American dealer, are on trial in Rome, charged with trafficking in illegally excavated objects. Hearings are due to resume in September.

Wednesday’s agreement said the two sides had agreed to put off a decision on the statue attributed to Lysippos, known in the U.S. as the Getty bronze, until a court in the eastern coastal city of Pesaro rules on its ownership.

The sculpture, of an Olympic athlete, was found in the Adriatic in 1964; the Getty acquired it in 1977. It said the find was in international waters. Rome does not contest the point, but says the bronze was brought ashore and then exported illegally.— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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