Who's on (trial) first?

Marion True is in the dock, but if the Getty thinks it can escape by cutting her loose, a rethink may be in order:

In a move that seemed to gratify prosecutors, lawyers for a former curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles who is on trial here asked on Wednesday that the court admit as evidence a letter in which the curator railed against her former employer.

In the Dec. 18 letter to three Getty officials, the former curator, Marion True, accused the Getty’s trust of having left her to “carry the burden” of the institution’s collecting practices, even though her superiors at the museum and the trust had “approved all of the acquisitions made during my tenure”. . .

Ms. True wrote that her Getty superiors “were all fully aware of the risks involved in buying antiquities” and still had approved her decisions. . .

Francesco Isolabella, one of her lawyers . . . pointed out that several works that Italy wants the Getty to return were bought by Ms. True’s predecessor, Jiri Frel, who worked from 1973 to 1986 on amassing the museum’s collection of Greek and Roman treasures.

From today's NY Times. Other writeups, including this AP piece from the International Herald Tribune, focused more on the testimony of Pietro Casasanta (previously noted here):

Pietro Casasanta recalled half a century spent looting archaeological treasures across the country, benefiting from what he said was a free-for-all environment that allowed smugglers and merchants to make a fortune by selling antiquities in Italy and abroad.

Italian authorities say top European and U.S. museums took advantage of that atmosphere to acquire looted Roman, Greek and Etruscan artifacts. . .

The raider defended his actions, saying that the underground antiquities trade was tolerated for decades until authorities started the recent crackdown. He also claimed he had saved art that would have been otherwise destroyed in development projects.

Claiming to be a hero is a bit much, but it is true that enforcement of antiquities laws in Italy used to be so lax that the trade in illegally-excavated antiquities (if not the excavation itself) could fairly be described as "tolerated".

Guided by a self-styled code of honor, Casasanta said he concentrated mainly on the ruins of ancient Roman villas in the countryside around the Italian capital, refusing to loot the art-rich Etruscan tombs that are one of preferred targets of Italy's "tombaroli," or grave robbers.

"I didn't like to disturb the dead," he said. "It was my own ethical choice."

Oh, please. More likely he was either superstitious or was afraid that the tombaroli wouldn't take kindly to trespassers on "their" turf.

Posted by David on January 18, 2007 12:36 PM