[MSN] Antiquities Trial Resumes in Rome

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

October 19, 2006

Antiquities Trial Resumes in Rome

A fifth-century B.C. statue of the goddess Aphrodite held court in Rome
yesterday as the trial of a former curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in
Los Angeles and an American antiquities dealer resumed after a long summer
hiatus. Fausto Guarnieri, who once worked for Italy's art-theft squad,
testified that nearly 20 years ago tomb robbers led him to a site in Sicily
where the statue had been dug up. The limestone-and-marble sculpture, now a
highlight of the Getty Museum's antiquities collection in Malibu, Calif.,
forms part of the case against the former curator, Marion True, who is
accused of dealing in stolen artifacts. Italy has also demanded that the
statue be returned. But Ms. True's lawyers argued that after Italy was
officially advised in 1988 that the Getty Museum had acquired the statue,
its government showed little interest in the Aphrodite's origins for almost
two decades. "Italy never questioned the purchase," said one of the defense
lawyers, Francesco Isolabella. "Now, years later, it's become a crime." The
trial is being closely watched by American museums whose antiquities
collections are also in the sights of Italian prosecutors. 

ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

http://www.nytimes.com/


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Moderator's comment:

One of Marion True's lawyers stated: "Italy never questioned the purchase"..

This really is outrageous. The Getty should performed due diligence and
should have questioned the purchase of the sculpture. Marion True herself
drafted an acquisitions code for The Getty, but did not live up to it!

TC
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