[MSN] "Bully Bob" Hecht & The Unanswered Euphronios Questions, by Suzan Mazur

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"Bully Bob" Hecht And The Euphronios Questions 
Friday, 7 July 2006, 2:15 pm
Opinion: Suzan Mazur  

"Bully Bob" Hecht & The Unanswered Euphronios Questions 

By Suzan Mazur

Images and related articles:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0607/S00085.htm


Antiquities Whistleblower Oscar White Muscarella"Bully Bob" Hecht is best
known for escorting Italy's priceless Sarpedon Euphronios vase to the US in
1972 and selling it for personal profit to a private museum that gets public
funding -- the Metropolitan Museum of Art; his price was $1million. Hecht is
also known for his threatening fist, including an attempted assault on this
writer. 

The two episodes are not unrelated. They are facets of Hecht's ruthlessness,
of his violent history.

Now indicted by the Italian government for trafficking in stolen antiquities
-- 94 are listed -- and on trial in Rome, the 87-year old remains at-large
on Manhattan's Upper East Side (defendants are not required to attend their
own trials under Italian law), where he continues to charm news
organizations like his hometown paper, the Baltimore Sun. 

Hecht and the Sun recently entertained one another at Park Avenue's Union
Club. The paper assigned a reporter to the story ("Shadows in a Tomb"
6/18/6) who had no background in antiquities and then quoted Hecht saying:
"There is no concrete proof that these things were illegally excavated." 

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The Sun headlined the story: "For years, Robert E. Hecht sold many of
Italy's national treasures. The question is: Was he stealing it?" 

It then wrapped up the piece with an astonishing statement from Baltimore's
Walters Art Gallery director Gary Vikan:


"I don't think there's a museum in this country that doesn't have something
that Bob Hecht sold them. . . . In some respects, I think it's absolutely
fair to say that thanks to Bob Hecht there are many of us in this world who
are able to see works of art that reflect our shared heritage."Thanks to
Bob? 

-- What of the serious charges brought against Hecht by Italian prosecutors?
--trafficking in stolen antiquities, i.e., plunder, "rape of the Earth" --
as Met Ancient Near East expert Oscar Muscarella so aptly puts it .

-- What of Hecht's assault on classmates at Haverford College reported by
the late John L. Hess in The Grand Acquisitors? 

-- And at the American Academy in Rome? Former Met director Tom Hoving, who
bought the Sarpedon Euphronios bowl from Hecht in 1972, writes this in his
artnet.com "Hot Pot" series: 


"I knew him [Hecht] from 1953, when I was living in Rome, when he'd left the
prestigious American Academy because he threatened a colleague for having
made eyes at his wife."-- Then there's Hecht's attempted assault on me at an
Upper East Side art exhibition for citing his arrest in Turkey over looted
antiquities in my coverage for The Economist of the Hunt-Sotheby's auction
-- "Coining it in" 6/23/90: 


"Mr. Hoving declined [the Euphronios wine cup], because he had just paid $1m
for a Euphronios bowl which the Italian government claimed had been looted
from an Etruscan tomb. Mr. Hecht said he had bought it from a Lebanese
businessman whose father had acquired it in a trade for some coins; but he
was arrested in both Italy and Turkey on charges of buying looted
antiquities. Mr. Hoving did not wish to burn his fingers again." Hecht, more
than a year later, was still agitated over his Economist "outing",
mentioning me in his August 27, 1991 handwritten letter to Turkish
journalist Ozgen Acar: A Preview Of Bob Hecht's Memoirs .

-- Peter Watson picks up on the trail of Hecht's arrest in his new book, The
Medici Conspiracy: 


"At the time he [Hecht] was persona non grata in Turkey following a scandal
in which, on an internal flight from Izmir to Istanbul, he had taken out
some ancient gold coins to examine them. . . . On arrival, police were
waiting for Hecht, arrested him, and seized the coins, which they discovered
had been illegally excavated. . . . He had also been arrested in Italy in
the early 1960s. . .but acquitted."-- Watson also highlights Hecht's
treachery with a story in the book about Zurich art dealer Frida Tchacos who
told Italian prosecutor Paolo Ferri that antiquities dealer Robin Symes told
her "Hecht was a dangerous man", and that she found Hecht "vindictive" and
was "afraid of him". Watson noted other figures in the antiquities world
were similarly "intimidated" by Hecht, and that Hecht threatened to expose
anyone who cut in on his territory, etc.

Fortunately, Hecht's pampered lifestyle has enabled him to live to a ripe
old age and he now faces his accusers. But it's unlikely he feels any
remorse, as the following email to me from one of his former acquaintances
reveals:


"What fuels him? My impression is that he has a Liar Button that
automatically gets stepped on hard every time his vocal cords, to which it
is connected, are in operation. Bob, from all the evidence that has come my
way . . . is just a shifty quantity who discovered early on that he is adept
at driving a brave trade with financial success by running round and round
on the inaccessible fringes of legality and propriety in sophisticated and
insanely clever ways --- until he gets caught, that is. It's called being a
psychopath or sociopath; he has no internal restraints, compunction or
capacity for remorse, let's say isn't burdened with the awful baggage of a
conscience. . . Tied to this is an enormous appetite for flamboyant and
stylish international living." But Hecht is wrong about there being "no
concrete proof" of illegal excavation. There is evidence: the conviction of
Hecht's former antiquities partner, Giacomo Medici and others in the ring,
the hoard of recovered antiquities -- some with Sotheby's tags still on them
-- as well as the Met's relinquishing title to Italy of the Sarpedon
Euphronios vase. The latter has seriously opened the floodgates for the
return of other cultural heritage from US museums.

The fact that the Met insisted on a "no liability" clause in their February
2006 contract with the Italians is proof enough that the purchase of the
vase was not made in "good faith". And it's unlikely the Met would ever have
surrendered ownership of the so-called "complete" Euphronios if there were
not evidence that it was plundered. 

For example, there were photographs taken of the vase before final
restoration that could prove whether the breaks in the bowl were ancient or
modern. Experts says that while it's rare to find such objects of antiquity
as the Euphronios whole, the vase fragments could have been further broken
up to smuggle them following an illegal dig. 

John L. Hess in Grand Acquisitors (1974) says the following about the
Sarpedon Euphronios: 


"The fact that the vase had been broken into many parts was significant for
another reason, which up to this writing has never been publicly remarked.
There are ten human figures on the krater; not one of the breaks crosses any
of the ten faces. If this occurred by accident, it was almost miraculous. It
would be more understandable if, as frequently happened, an experienced
operator had deliberately broken up the vase to facilitate smuggling it out
of Italy."The prerestoration photos of the vase in the Met's possession
"clearly indicated the contours of the fragments" noted New York Times
correspondent Nicholas Gage in 1973. 

The museum lent prerestoration shots to the Times. But Gage recently told me
he no longer remembers who actually saw them, saying "it was 30 years ago". 

The photos were supposedly then snatched back by Met director Tom Hoving who
said he was concerned the Times had "radiographed copies of the photographs
to Europe", that they could color the testimony of tombaroli claiming to
have dug up the vase. The Times said it had not done so. 

And why would it? Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Sr., then publisher of the NYT,
was on the Met's Acquisitions Committee (and later its chairman) which voted
to purchase the vase from Hecht. 

This may be why Hecht tried but failed to charm Nick Gage in Rome over
dinner with wine rather than attack him. Gage would report Hecht's arrest in
Turkey and Italy in a Times column 2/20/73, after their face-to-face
interview.

But in an earlier NYT story, John Hess also cites Met curator of Greek and
Roman Art, Dietrich von Bothmer, saying that although he didn't think breaks
in the vase were recent -- if they were, "it would lend support to an
Italian speculation that the vase had been found nearly intact and was
broken to facilitate its smuggling." 

Von Bothmer also admitted at the time that the vase had never been
previously mentioned in any scholarly article or sales brochure. 

Now, with the Italians in possession of the Sarpedon Euphronios -- though
the vase remains on display at the Met until 2008 -- they can attempt to
examine the breaks to determine once and for all how ancient they really are
as well as demand to see the prerestoration photos (if they have not already
done so). 

I have telephoned the Met requesting to see shots of the unrestored vase
myself and for permission to publish them, leaving messages with both the
current Greek and Roman curator -- Carlos Picon, and with Dietrich von
Bothmer. Von Bothmer, 34 years later is still "keeper of the museum's
secrets" in his role as Distinguished Research Curator of Greek and Roman
Art. 

So far neither has responded.


 
Dietrich von Bothmer - Image Source 
John Hess also reported at the time of the Euphronios affair that von
Bothmer in answer to a question about whether an independent expert could
check to see if the breaks were new, claimed studies carried out on the vase
were already available. 

But those were thermoluminescence studies done at Oxford from filings of the
vase to determine the age of the pottery, not the cracks. And while modern
details will "fluoresce" under black light, the ultraviolet tests carried
out by the Met on the vase -- whatever the results were -- were not
independently verified. 

Also, von Bothmer's comment about the availability of the tests does not
square off with the Met's said sudden recall of photos of the unrestored
vase from the Times. 

Then there was John Hess's reassignment at the NYT as food critic following
his and Nick Gage's fundamentally important reporting of the Euphronios
affair. . . 

Gage had actually tracked down one of the tomb robbers and recorded his
confession. Gage later left the Times to produce movies and write books,
including the poignant Eleni, an account of his mother's torture during the
Greek Civil War.

Meanwhile, the glib remarks about Bob Hecht cited above from Walters Art
Gallery director Gary Vikan recall those made by Dietrich von Bothmer to the
Times in 1973 in defense of his acquisition of the Sarpendon Euphronios:


Dietrich von Bothmer: "I want to know where it was made, who did it and
when. . . I want to know whether it is genuine or fake. Its intermediate
history is not important to archaeology. Why can't people look at it simply
as archaeologists do, as an art object?"

Caption: Calyx krater painted by Euphronios, 6th century BC, currently on
loan from Italy to the Met. The scene depicts the slain Lycian prince
Sarpedon, son of Zeus, being carried off the Trojan battlefield by Sleep and
Death. 
Image Source 
But more important than von Bothmer's quip to the Times is the subsequent
challenge to von Bothmer from archaeology scholars at New York's Hunter
College. Their February 1973 letter follows:




Archaeologists' letter, see transcript below.


"February 26, 1973

Dr. Dietrich von Bothmer
Curator of Greek and Roman Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, New York 10028


Dear Dr. von Bothmer:


We are writing to express our concern about recent public statements
attributed to you in the New York Times. Quite apart from the serious
ethical questions raised by the purchase of the calyx krater, we feel that
your comments quoted in the New York Times regarding the objectives of
archaeology are entirely unworthy of a curator in a major museum. Your
statements made in defense of the acquisition of the vase betray a lack of
understanding of that discipline and, in our opinion, cast doubts on your
professional qualifications. At the very least it is obvious that you are
not competent to speak for any sizeable segment of trained workers in
archaeology.


No serious scholar of ancient civilization can argue today that the history,
context and provenance of an object is of less importance than its aesthetic
appeal, however great that may be. When a major museum such as the
Metropolitan Museum of Art purchases an object of great antiquity with a
publicly proclaimed disregard for the "intermediate history" of the object,
it legitimizes the operations of grave robbers and plunderers of sites. It
also encourages private collectors to acquire objects of dubious legal
history. 

Contrary to what you imply in your remarks to The Times, archaeology is not
a search for buried treasure. Given your prominent position in an
educational and research institution, your comments about archaeology are
particularly damaging to the general public's appreciation of the
profession. On the assumption that the attributions make to you by The Times
are correct, the undersigned subscribe to the foregoing criticisms.

Yours truly,
Daniel G. Bates, Ph.D.
Richard E. Blanton, Ph.D.
Francis P. Conant, Ph.D.
Susan H. Lees, Ph.D.
John D. Speth, Ph.D.

cc: Thomas P.F. Hoving

John L. Hess"

*************
 Suzan Mazur's stories on art and antiquities have been published in The
Economist, Financial Times, Connoisseur, Archaeology (cover) and Newsday.
Some of her other reports have appeared on PBS, CBC and MBC. She has been a
guest on McLaughlin, Charlie Rose and various Fox Television News programs.
Email: sznmzr @ aol.com

Images:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0607/S00085.htm