[CPProt.net] Italy goes after the Getty for ‘receiving’ art

[Ellie Bruggeman]

Italy goes after the Getty for ‘receiving’ art

THE curator of antiquities at California’s respected J Paul Getty Museum 
will go on trial in Italy next month accused of conspiracy to receive 
stolen goods in a landmark case closely watched by the art world.

Marion True, 56, who has worked since 1982 for the Getty, one of the 
world’s richest collections, is also accused by Rome prosecutors of 
illicit receipt of archeological items.

The trial involves some 40 artefacts and follows a nine-year inquiry by 
Italy’s art squad, a unit of the carabinieri — the paramilitary police.

The most valuable is a 4th century BC stone sculpture of Aphrodite, the 
goddess of love. Police believe the 7ft 6in statue — valued at $20m in 
1987 when the Getty imported it — was smuggled from Sicily in the 1970s. 
Another allegedly stolen work is a small marble statue of Tyche, goddess 
of chance and prosperity, dating from the 2nd century BC.

Italian investigators believe they were among works stolen from 
archeological sites and then taken by a ring of a dozen art dealers to 
London via a rudimentary restoration laboratory in Switzerland. The 
dealers allegedly set up front companies, all registered in the same 
street in Geneva.

It is claimed cartel members in effect “laundered” the art by getting 
one company to put them up for auction in London and another to buy them 
back.

The ring allegedly traded up to 200 lots in a single sale. The total 
value of works that passed through London auction houses is estimated to 
be more than £100m. There is no suggestion that the auction houses knew 
that the works were stolen.

“Selling and buying through the auction house basically cleaned the 
artwork,” claimed an Italian investigator. “After it had gone through 
that process everyone would assume, or pretend to assume, that its 
origin was sound. What’s more, the work now had a price on it.”

A legal source in Rome said that True was not expected to attend the 
trial. The source predicted that even if she were convicted, America 
would be unlikely to extradite her. The charges carry a likely jail 
sentence of five to six years.

The Getty said it believed True would be exonerated. She has not 
commented. In her time at the Getty, True has returned several looted or 
stolen ancient Greek and Roman objects acquired before she took over.

A source at the Rome prosecutor’s office said the case was not just 
about the Getty.

“Foreign museums must stop turning a blind eye,” he said. “It’s not good 
enough just to send forms to art dealers asking about a work’s origin.” 
The source said that a guilty verdict would allow museums and auction 
houses in London and elsewhere to be investigated on suspicion of 
violating rules governing imports of works of art, handling stolen goods 
and “damaging Italy’s artistic heritage”.

Italian police said they were investigating works believed to have been 
stolen from Italian archeological sites, including several Etruscan 
ceramics now owned by the British Museum.

A museum spokeswoman said it had a stringent acquisitions policy and 
would “only acquire objects that are legally available for acquisition”.

Cristina Ruiz, editor of The Art Newspaper, dismissed the Italian 
attempts to stop art theft as “a complete farce”.

“It’s fine to go after art merchants who deal in stolen goods, but 
protecting Italy’s cultural heritage is a huge problem and persecuting 
institutions and auction houses is the wrong way to go about it,” she said.

“I’ve been to sites in Italy where there are huge thefts. The Italians 
have no security, and then they go after the institutions which are 
buying the stolen works.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/