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ENTERTAINMENT / Theater & Arts






Getty museum to return 'Aphrodite' to Italy


(AFP)
Updated: 2007-08-02 19:16



ROME?- The Getty museum has agreed to return a prized statue, dubbed "The
Aphrodite," to Italy following an acrimonious dispute over allegedly
looted antiquities, the two sides announced Wednesday.

Under a bilateral agreement that resolves most aspects of the
long-running dispute, the museum will "transfer to Italy 40 objects,
including the Aphrodite," formally called the Cult Statue of a Goddess,
in 2010, the Italian culture ministry said in a joint communique with the
Los Angeles museum.

The rare fifth-century BC statue made of marble and limestone was at the
centre of the dispute between the museum and Italian authorities, who
claimed it was illegally exported and demanded its immediate return.

The two sides agreed however to postpone discussion of the fate of
another hotly disputed work, the "Statue of a Victorious Youth," pending
the outcome of legal proceedings under way in Pesaro, Italy.

Dating from the 4th century BC, the work often referred to as the Getty
Bronze is considered one of the greatest bronze statues to survive from
ancient Greece and was acquired by the Getty for nearly four million
dollars in 1977.

The statue was found by Italian fishermen in international waters, but
Italy says it was illegally exported.

The Getty, set up by US oil billionaire and collector J. Paul Getty and
one of the world's richest art museums, insists it never knowingly bought
illegally uncovered artifacts.

Italian prosecutors, however, felt they had a clear-cut case against the
museum, and in July 2005 Getty curator Marion True went on trial in Rome
for conspiring to traffic in stolen antiquities.

True, who had been with the Getty for 20 years, was asked to retire, but
the museum is paying for her defence against the charges, based on a
decade-long investigation.

The Aphrodite is among the artefacts at issue in the trial.

True and co-defendant Robert Hecht, a prominent art dealer in his 80s,
both deny wrongdoing in the case, which emerged out of an investigation
into the activities of a former gallery owner Giacomo Medici, who is
currently appealing a 10-year jail sentence in Italy.

Another apparent casualty of the scandal is Barry Munitz, president of
the trust that runs the Getty Museum, who resigned in February this year
"so both the institution and I can move forward," according to a
statement.

It said Munitz "would not receive a severance package" and, "without
admitting any wrongdoing, pay the Getty Trust 250,000 dollars (183,000
euros) in order to resolve any continuing disputes with him."

The agreement between Rome and the Getty, similar to ones reached with
the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art,
also calls for "ample cultural collaboration that will include loans of
significant art works, joint exhibitions, research and conservation and
restoration projects."

Wednesday's communique states: "Both sides say they are satisfied that an
accord has been reached after long and complex negotiations, and now they
are proceeding towards renewed collaborative relations."

Italy initially identified 52 works at the Getty as being of Italian
origin and illegally trafficked.

Rome said the Getty could keep six of them, while the museum offered to
return 25, leaving 21 objects still in dispute, including the Aphrodite
and the Getty Bronze.

Following the agreement, only five artefacts including the Getty Bronze
remain in suspense.

Greece has also asked the Getty to return a number of ancient art objects
which it believes were stolen and smuggled out of the country.























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