Getty vs Italy, continued

The Getty continues to play the role of lightning rod in the ongoing crackdown on illegal antiquities:

Italy’s culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, said Thursday he was disappointed and surprised by the decision of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to return only 26 of 52 ancient artifacts in its collection that Italy says were illegally excavated from its soil. However, he expressed hope that negotiations with the museum could resume and that the issue could be resolved.

Negotiations between the Getty and the Italian authorities have clearly been tough going from the outset. No other museum has had criminal charges filed against its curators; and though it may be that the Italians have been trying to make an example out of the Getty, there can be little doubt that it takes two to play this particular kind of hardball. As the NY Times noted earlier this week:

In an abrupt change of course, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles announced yesterday that it had broken off negotiations with the Italian government and made a “unilateral” decision to cede only some of the antiquities that Italy says were looted from its soil.

In a six-page letter to the Italian culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, the Getty’s director, Michael Brand, said the museum had decided to turn over 26 artifacts. Referring to other treasures sought by the Italians, he said that Italy had “no valid legal claim” to a prized bronze sculpture in the Getty’s collection, and that evidence regarding a limestone cult statue it wanted returned was “inconclusive.”

Who knows what is going on behind closed doors? All one can assume is that negotiations mustn't be going well for so much public airing of dissatisfaction. The Getty press release is here, while the NYT also notes:

Unlike deals to return disputed art that Italy negotiated this year with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the ceding of art by the Getty carries no guarantee of loans from Italy or other reciprocal benefits.

Posted by David on November 25, 2006 3:38 PM