To make sure I understand, is this kind of like a
repatriation thing?  Are these treasures that were
"appropriated" long ago and now being claimed as part
of Italy's National Treasures, or were these recent
"appropriations"?


--- "Museum Security Network / Cultural Property
Protection Net (Ton              Cremers)"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  Italy Indicts Getty Museum Curator
> By Tracy Wilkinson and Suzanne Muchnic
> Times Staff Writers
> 
> 7:55 PM PDT, May 19, 2005
> 
> ROME -- In a long-running legal battle with broad
> implications for museum
> collections worldwide, a senior curator at the J.
> Paul Getty Museum in Los
> Angeles has been indicted in Italy on criminal
> charges involving the
> acquisition of precious antiquities in this
> archaeologically rich country,
> authorities in Rome said.
> 
> Marion True, 56, curator for antiquities at the
> prestigious museum and
> director of the Getty Villa, an adjunct site near
> Malibu that once was home
> to the main museum, is accused of criminal
> conspiracy to receive stolen
> goods and illicit receipt of archaeological items.
> It also is alleged that
> True essentially laundered goods that were purchased
> by a private collection
> and then sold to the Getty in paper transactions
> that created phony
> documentation.
> 
> If the prosecution is successful, the Italians
> intend to pursue additional
> cases at other museums. The plunder of Italy for its
> artwork is a crime
> tantamount to "stealing history," the indictment
> reads in part. By
> attempting to prosecute an official from the world's
> richest art museum,
> Italian authorities hope to send a clear message
> that they no longer will
> tolerate the vast and systematic robbing of
> antiquities from a country so
> replete with historical treasures.
> 
> "We want this case to be a big deterrent," said
> Capt. Massimiliano
> Quagliarella, who commands the police unit that
> oversees archaeological
> theft. "It is important to stop the phenomenon of
> illegal excavations and
> illegal exportation by eliminating the demand and
> thus eliminating the
> offer."
> 
> He and the main prosecutor on the case briefed a
> reporter on the contents of
> the indictment. The prosecutor asked that his name
> not be published, because
> the case is pending and he said he did not want to
> appear to be trying it in
> the media. The trial is scheduled to begin July 18
> in Rome, at which point
> the full details of the indictment will be
> disclosed.
> 
> Several attorneys who specialize in
> cultural-heritage issues say prosecuting
> a museum curator is highly unusual but perhaps to be
> expected in a field
> fraught with conflicting professional agendas and
> national laws.
> 
> "The fact that Italy is following through with this
> reflects greater
> frustration of countries that can't seem to stem the
> flow of antiquities,"
> said Lawrence M. Kaye of the Herrick, Feinstein law
> firm in New York. "They
> are going to look for other measures until they are
> able to do so.
> 
> "I do think it's problematical if museum curators,
> particularly reputable
> ones, are going to be the subject of indictments
> around the world. It
> certainly sends a chill out, warning people to be
> very careful about what
> kind of antiquities they are buying."
> 
> True's indictment comes after nearly 10 years of
> investigation. The case
> involves about 40 items acquired by the Getty in
> recent years, the
> authorities said. Investigators have not released a
> list of the objects, but
> they said two particularly notable Greek statues of
> deities were included.
> 
> One sculpture, a keystone of the Getty's collection,
> is a 7 1/2-foot
> likeness of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, carved
> out of marble and
> limestone in the fifth century B.C. The Getty
> imported the work in 1987 and
> declared its value at $20 million when it cleared
> Customs. The other work, a
> 33-inch figure of Tyche, the goddess of fortune, was
> made of marble in the
> second century B.C. It is part of the collection
> amassed by New York art
> patrons Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman, acquired by
> the Getty in 1996 as
> part gift, part purchase.
> 
> True was traveling outside the United States on
> Thursday and could not be
> reached for comment. The Getty issued a statement
> expressing disappointment
> in the action: "During the course of the Italian
> authorities' preliminary
> investigation, the Getty reviewed and provided to
> the prosecutors thousands
> of pages of documents from our files. We trust that
> this trial will result
> in her exoneration and end further damage to the
> personal and professional
> reputation of Dr. True."
> 
> The prosecutor will not decide what penalty to seek
> until shortly before the
> trial, but authorities indicated it would likely be
> much less than the
> 10-year sentence handed down to Italian art dealer
> Giacomo Medici, recently
> convicted of trafficking in antiquities. True is not
> required to appear at
> the court hearing. It is not yet clear whether she
> will be present.
> 
> Originally, the charges against True were part of a
> larger case that
> included Medici and a Paris-based art dealer,
> Emanuele Robert Hecht. The
> cases were divided when Medici requested a
> "fast-track" prosecution under
> rules that allow shorter sentences in speedier
> trials. Medici was convicted,
> sentenced and ordered to pay fines late last year.
> He is appealing the
> decision. Hecht has been barred from entering Italy
> for his alleged role in
> selling looted Greek silver to the Metropolitan
> Museum of Art in New York.
> 
> A lawyer for True, Francesco Isolabella, has
> described the acquisitions made
> by his client as being carried out "in the clear
> light of day."
> 
> The Getty has a policy of returning objects to their
> countries of origin
> should evidence indicate that is the right thing to
> do.
> 
> True, a leader in the field of antiquities, has
> worked at the Getty for 23
> years. She spent her first two years, 1982 to 1984,
> as an assistant to
> antiquities curator Jiri Frel, who was hired in 1973
> by the museum's
> founder, oil baron J. Paul Getty. Frel built the
> antiquities holding
> quickly, acquiring spectacular showpieces and a huge
> study collection
> through purchases and gifts, but he was forced to
> retire in 1984 after
> disclosures that he had traded inflated appraisals
> for donated antiquities.
> True was promoted to the position of associate
> curator upon Frel's
> departure. She took charge of the antiquities
> department in 1986, the year
> she received her doctorate from Harvard University.
> 
> On True's watch, the Getty's antiquities collection
> has continued to grow --
> under international scrutiny. Like many museums with
> collections of ancient
> art, the Getty has come under fire for acquiring
> works said to be fakes,
> copies or illegal imports. In some cases, the museum
> has conducted its own
> investigations of questionable pieces.
> 
> In 1999, the Getty took the much-publicized step of
> returning to Italy three
> works: a 480 B.C. Greek terra cotta drinking cup
> that was illegally
> excavated; a second-century torso of the god Mithra
> stolen from a private
> Italian collection; and a second-century Roman head
> of an athlete illicitly
> taken from an excavation storeroom. In announcing
> the decision to return the
> objects, the Getty credited True's "vigilance and
> extensive contact with
> specialists in ancient art." 
> 
> http://www.latimes.com/



Indigo Nights
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