[MSN] Italy has dropped a legal suit against the Getty museum after the US art institution agreed to return 40 items Rome believes were stolen and smuggled out of the country.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Italy drops legal battle against Getty
Posted Fri Aug 3, 2007 11:32am AEST 
Updated Fri Aug 3, 2007 11:45am AEST 

 
The Getty will return 40 items to Italy 
(file photo:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/03/1995836.htm?section=entertainm
ent). 
(Reuters)
Italy has dropped a legal suit against the Getty museum after the richest US
art institution agreed to return 40 items Rome believes were stolen and
smuggled out of the country.

After a 15-month battle of wills between the Italian Government and the Los
Angeles-based museum, Getty will send most of the disputed items back by the
end of this year under an agreement Rome said was good for both parties.

"From the moment we closed the deal, we confirmed that we were pulling out
of the legal case," said Francesco Rutelli, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister
and Culture Minister.

In Los Angeles, Getty museum director Michael Brand welcomed the agreement
and said he was looking forward to collaborating on a new program with Rome
of loans and joint exhibitions which was part of the agreement.

"I don't have any worries about the gaps [in the museum]. We could have some
amazing things come into that space. It will be extraordinary to have 40 new
objects coming in. It is sad but at the same time it is exciting," Mr Brand
told Reuters.

"It is very gratifying to have reached the final conclusion."

The items to be returned are housed at the ancient Roman-style Getty Villa
in the beach city of Malibu. 

The Villa was was reopened in early 2006 after a nine-year renovation and is
dedicated to the study of Roman and Greek antiquities.

Mr Brand said the 40 disputed items were among 1,200 artifacts on public
display at the Villa from a total of about 2,500.

The agreement has no direct impact on the trial in Rome of the Getty's
former curator, Marion True, who is accused of conspiracy in trafficking
stolen Italian antiquities.

Getty is the third US museum to strike a deal with Italy to return
antiquities that Rome says left the country illegally, often after being dug
up by "tomb raiders".

Under a 1939 Italian law, ancient artifacts from digs belong to the state.
Antiquities excavated after 1939 can only leave the country on loan.

Both New York's Metropolitan Museum and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts have
returned suspects pieces, but the Getty deal is the biggest to date, with
ancient artifacts that include decorated jars, fragments of frescoes and
statues.

A 2.2-metre 4th century BC marble statue of the goddess Aphrodite, which
Getty bought in 1988, will remain on display in Los Angeles until the end of
2010 after which it will be shipped to Sicily.

"The Italians have offered to lend us something of equal importance", Mr
Brand said. 

Details of the loans have yet to be discussed.

Italy employed legal threats and diplomatic pressure to seek the return of
52 items. Getty was initially prepared to send 26, and the deal covers 40.

The Getty and Rome agreed to defer further discussions on Getty Bronze, also
known as the Statue of a Victorious Youth, while its provenance is being
ruled on by an Italian court.

Mr Rutelli said Italy's campaign against smuggled art should make it more
difficult for art smugglers to sell their loot.

"Anyone who still thinks they can plunder the world's heritage ... now knows
that they are confronted with a solid cooperation between scientific and
political institutions, the great museums, archeologists and scholars," he
said. 

- Reuters

http://www.abc.net.au/