No subject

 =20

Labels: Fleischman, Getty Museum, Giacomo Medici, polaroids, Shelby =
White:
http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2007/10/from-malibu-to-rome-implicatio=
ns-
for.html=20

=20
AP has reported that the first four of the items to be returned from the
Getty left on Tuesday ("4 Getty items back in Italy", LA Times, October =
3,
2007).

One of the four was "a fragment of a wall fresco from the 1st century BC
depicting Hercules". This had formed part of the the Barbara and =
Lawrence
Fleischman collection (Getty [deaccessioned] 96.AG.171). As I had =
commented
earlier, this fresco fragment had been purchased from Fritz B=FCrki who
features prominently in The Medici Conspiracy.

Maxwell L. Anderson, who published the fragment in the exhibition =
catalogue
A Passion for Antiquities (no. 126), noted,=20



"The upper portion of the fresco matches precisely the upper portion of =
a
fresco section in the Shelby White and Leon Levy collection ... and is =
from
the same room, as is catalogue number 125".


The two other fragments alluded to by Anderson are:

a. The White/Levy fragment (Glories of the Past no. 142), also published =
by
Anderson, which is noted as "part of the upper zone of a wall from a =
Second
Style house".=20

b. An ex-Fleischman fragment that appears to be remaining in the Getty
(96.AG.170). This too is listed in The Medici Conspiracy (p. 350). (See =
also
my earlier comments.)

Watson and Todeschini have reported a fourth fragment from the same room
that was seized in Geneva from Giacomo Medici. They quote the prosecutor
Paolo Ferri, it "would appear to be a twin to another fresco" (i.e. the
returning fragment, no. 126).

Maurizio Pellegrini came across evidence of a looted Second Style =
complex in
Medici's documentation (The Medici Conspiracy, pp. 69-71, 119, and =
plates).
It is reported that "at least nine walls of the Pompeian villa were
photographed in situ by the tombaroli". (The presence of lapillae in the
photographs is suggestive of a structure destroyed in the eruption of
Vesuvius in AD 79.) What is more, "Two of the walls depicted in the
photographs were found in the [Geneva] Freeport, packed in bubble wrap =
and
leaning against a wall, as though they were about to be shipped out".

Watson and Todeschini reflect on the implication of this find:


"It revealed the scale of the traffic in illegally excavated =
antiquities,
and the brutality shown by the tombaroli and those above them in respect =
to
important and beautiful ancient objects, as well as the utter =
indifference
to the archaeological importance of Italy's heritage ... The frescoes =
...
had been rudely and crudely ripped from their context and sold off to =
people
("collectors") who might profess to care about archaeological objects =
but
obviously had no interest in the original and proper context."


Who knows if the ex-Getty/Fleischman, present-Getty, present-White, and
surfaced-Geneva fragments came from this looted Campanian villa? But =
they
are reported as coming "from the same room" (even if we do not know =
where
that room is located). How is it known that they come "from the same =
room"?
Does (or did) a photograph exist that was taken at the time of its =
opening?=20

Can the acquiring of such paintings be considered to be "a very
public-spirited thing to do"? (I take the quote from Shelby White's
interview in The New Yorker, April 9, 2007.)

Has the time come for Shelby White to make a grand gesture? Imagine the
reuniting of the fragment presently in her possession with the one that =
is
now back in Italy.=20


That would be the public-spirited thing to do.

Labels: Fleischman, Getty Museum, Giacomo Medici, polaroids, Shelby =
White:
http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2007/10/from-malibu-to-rome-implicatio=
ns-
for.html


Posted by David Gill at 6:40 PM  =20