[MSN] Getty Museum holds out. Return of art stalled. The volume of material and the case against an ex-curator complicate the items' return to Italy.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Fri, Jun. 16, 2006
LOOTED ANTIQUITIES | Getty Museum holds out
Return of art stalled
The volume of material and the case against an ex-curator complicate the
items' return to Italy.
By TRACY WILKINSON and LIVIA BORGHESE
Los Angeles Times
 
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO 
Ex-Getty Museum curator Marion True is at the center of the antiquities
case.  
Photo:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/14829627.htm
 
 
OME | - ROME | One by one, museums in dispute with the Italian government
over looted antiquities are reaching agreement. New York's Metropolitan
Museum of Art signed a deal in February, and talks with Princeton University
are said to be well-advanced.

Alone stands the J. Paul Getty Museum, whose complicated negotiations with
Rome have been plagued by delays and have shown little progress.

Two factors continue to dog the talks, which are scheduled to resume later
this month: the sheer volume of material that the Italians want the Getty to
return, including some of the museum's most prized possessions, and the
criminal prosecution of former Getty antiquities curator Marion True.

True has pleaded innocent to charges she conspired with unsavory dealers
involved in the massive antiquity-trafficking network that illegally has
channeled valuable pieces to the world's museums and private collectors for
decades. If she were to change course and admit guilt, she could probably
escape jail time. But her admissions might weaken the Getty's bargaining
position.

Getty, on the other hand, could follow the Met's lead and agree to a program
of returning objects and then borrowing them back. But doing so might
jeopardize True's ability to defend herself. Or, if True felt abandoned by
the Getty, she might turn on her former employer and implicate the
institution in other wrongdoing.

True was forced to step down late last year from the curatorship she had
held for 19 years, but Getty is paying her legal bills. Her attorneys
confirmed a number of contacts with Getty representatives during the trial,
which began nearly 11 months ago.

Faced with this quandary, Getty officials have tried to open several
alternative channels in their negotiations, in what some Italian officials
think is an effort to find a more sympathetic ear in the government.

Italian negotiators are demanding that Getty agree to give back all 52
precious objects that figure in the case against True. Several, such as the
2,400-year-old marble statue of the goddess Aphrodite, have been on display
for years at the Getty Museum. As part of the deal, Italy would agree to
send some of the items back to the museum's galleries as long-term loans.

Getty officials, however, are contemplating the return of fewer items,
according to Italian negotiators.

"Getty is seriously interested in resolving its difficulties with Italy,"
Getty's attorney, Ronald Olson, said in a telephone interview. "Getty is
serious about bringing about a successful conclusion."

Italy's new cultural minister, Francesco Rutelli, told the Italian daily Il
Messaggero: "Our request for the restitution of all of the trafficked works
- and I say all - is our priority." It is illegal to excavate antiquities in
Italy or to export them without government permission.

In the most recent hearing, on May 31, prosecutors presented a picture of
two magnificent marble griffins plopped in the trunk of a car. The picture
was confiscated in a raid on a warehouse belonging to Giacomo Medici, an
earlier codefendant of True's who was convicted last year. Experts testified
that the ancient statues could be traced to southern Italy because of the
unusual color and type of marble. The statues today are in the new Getty
Villa.

True's attorneys said she purchased items in good faith, unaware of their
murky origin.

http://www.kansascity.com/