[MSN] Getty to hand back looted art.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Getty to hand back 'looted art' 
By David Willey 
BBC News, Rome  



One of the world's wealthiest museums, the Getty in Los Angeles, has signed
an agreement in Rome to return priceless artefacts allegedly stolen from
Italy. 
Under the deal with the Italian culture ministry, 40 major works of ancient
art will be returned from next week. 

The items include a prized limestone and marble statue of the goddess
Aphrodite, to be handed over in 2010. 

It follows two years of often hostile negotiations, with Rome threatening to
sever ties with Getty. 

It is a victory for the Italian government, which has been battling in the
courts for the past decade to defeat the enormously profitable international
trade in smuggled ancient art works. 

New policy 

The former curator of antiquities at the Getty, Dr Marion True, is currently
on trial in Italy on charges of conspiracy in the looting of ancient works
of art which ended up in the museum. 


 The Getty Museum will not acquire anything that does not have an
appropriate provenance 
Michael Brand 
Directory, Getty Museum  

Some serious charges against Ms True are being dropped by Italian justice
authorities although she still risks being found guilty on lesser counts. 
The deal marks a milestone in relations between the Getty and Italy. 

The museum has established new guidelines for future purchases of ancient
art, director Michael Brand said. 

"The Getty Museum will not acquire anything that does not have an
appropriate provenance, same as the British museums, and that is the biggest
contribution to the future," he said. 

The most prized work the Getty Museum is giving back to Italy, a 5th Century
BC Athenian marble statue of the Goddess Aphrodite - dug up in Sicily and
secretly exported - is to be allowed to remain in the US for three years. 

But 40 other important objects including fresco paintings stolen from an
unknown villa in Pompeii, marble and bronze sculptures and Greek vases, will
arrive back in Rome sooner and be put on show. 

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7013471.stm