Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T06:36:55.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Malibu to Rome: Further Developments on the Return of Antiquities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2007

David Gill  and
Christopher Chippindale
David Gill
Affiliation:
Centre for Egyptology and Mediterranean Archaeology, School of Humanities, University of Wales Swansea. Email: [email protected]
Christopher Chippindale
Affiliation:
Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During 2006 three major North American Museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, agreed to return a significant number of antiquities to Italy. Acquisition information relating to the return of 26 items to Italy and 4 to Greece from the Getty can be added to the details known from the objects returned from Boston. A more detailed picture is emerging of how antiquities, apparently looted from Italy, were being passed through Switzerland on their way to dealers in Europe and North America. This information also points toward other antiquities that may be included in future agreements.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors are grateful to Karol Wight of the J. Paul Getty Museum for her willingness to check details about various pieces in Malibu. They are also grateful to Neil Brodie, Morag Kersel, and Peter Watson for comments on an earlier draft. Cass Cliatt (Princeton University), Jordan Rundgren (public relations manager, Toledo Museum of Art), and Lynette Nyman (press and public relations manager, Minneapolis Institute of Arts) kindly provided press releases relating to objects in their collections. Keith Padgham kindly assisted with checking some references.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , May 2007 , pp. 205 - 240
Copyright
© 2007 International Cultural Property Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Apostolidis, Andreas. Archaiokapilia kai emporio archaiotiton. Mouseia, emporoi technis, oikoi dimoprasion, idiotikes sulloges. Athens: Agra, 2006.
Atlantis Antiquities, Greek and Etruscan Art of the Archaic Period. New York: Atlantis Antiquities, 1988.
Atwood, Roger. Stealing History: Tomb Robbers, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004.
Bald Romano, Irene. Classical Sculpture. Catalogue of the Cypriot, Greek, and Roman Stone Sculpture in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Museum Monograph, Vol. 125. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2006.
Beazley, John D. Attic Black-figure Vase-painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.
Beazley, John D. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.
Bell, Malcolm. “The Getty Aphrodite: A Reply.” Culture Without Context 18 (2006): 4.Google Scholar
Boardman, John. The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters and Pictures. London: Thames & Hudson, 2001.
Boardman, John. “Archaeologists, Collectors, and Museums.” In Who Owns Objects? The Ethics and Politics of Collecting Cultural Artefacts, edited by E. Robson, L. Treadwell, and L. Gosden, 33–46. Oxford: Oxbow, 2006.
Bothmer, Dietrich von, ed. Glories of the Past: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990.
Boulter, C.G., and K.T. Luckner. The Toledo Museum of Art, Fasc. 2. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: United States of America. Fasc. 20. Toledo, OH: The Toledo Museum of Art, 1984.
Brommer, F. “Herakles und Theseus auf Vasen in Malibu.” In Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum 2, 183–228. Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1985.
Carabinieri, and Deborah Gribbon. “Aphrodite.” Culture Without Context 11 (2002). http://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/projects/iarc/culturewithoutcontext/issue11/aphrodite.htmGoogle Scholar
Chippindale, Christopher, and David W.J. Gill. “Material Consequences of Contemporary Classical Collecting.” American Journal of Archaeology 104 (2000): 463–511.Google Scholar
Connor, Peter, and Heather Jackson. A Catalogue of Greek Vases in the Collection of the University of Melbourne at the Ian Potter Museum of Art. South Melbourne, Australia: Macmillan, 2000.
De Puma, Richard. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, Fasc. 9. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: United States of America, fasc. 34. Malibu, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000.
Doumas, Christos G. Silent Witnesses: Early Cycladic Art of the Third Millennium BC. New York: Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA), 2002.
Eakin, Hugh, and Anthee Carassava. “Getty Museum is Expected to Return Gold Wreath to Greece.” New York Times, December 11, 2006.
Ede, Charles. “Who Owns Objects? A View from the Antiquities Trade.” In Who Owns Objects? The Ethics and Politics of Collecting Cultural Artefacts, edited by E. Robson, L. Treadwell, and L. Gosden, 77–81. Oxford: Oxbow, 2006.
Elston, Maya. “Technical and Aesthetic Considerations in the Conservation of Ancient Ceramic and Terracotta Objects in the J. Paul Getty Museum: Five Case Studies.” Studies in Conservation 35 (1990): 69–80.Google Scholar
Felch, Jason, and Ralph Frammolino. “Getty Had Signs it was Acquiring Possibly Looted Art, Documents Show.” LA Times, September 25, 2005.
Felch, Jason. “Getty Risks Embargo, Italy Warns.” LA Times, November 11, 2006.
Felch, Jason. “Getty Set to Return Two Greek Works.” LA Times, December 11, 2006.
Frammolino, Ralph, and Jason Felch. “Getty Makes New Offer to Italy.” LA Times November 22, 2006.
Gaunt, Jasper. “A Cup in Princeton.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 54 (1995): 30–38.Google Scholar
Gerstenblith, Patty. “Recent Developments in the Legal Protection of Cultural Heritage.” In Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and the Antiquities Trade, edited by N. Brodie, M.M. Kersel, C. Luke, and K.W. Tubb, 68–92. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006.
Getty Museum, J. Paul. Greek Vases: Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection. Malibu, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1983.
Getty Museum, J. Paul. A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman. Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum in association with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1994.
Gill, David W.J. “METRU.MENECE: An Etruscan Painted Inscription on a Mid-fifth Century BC Red-figure Cup from Populonia.” Antiquity 61 (1987): 82–87.Google Scholar
Gill, David W.J. “Pots and Trade: Spacefillers or objets d'art.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 111 (1991): 29–47.Google Scholar
Gill, David W.J. “Positivism, Pots and Long-distance Trade.” In Classical Greece: Ancient Histories and Modern Archaeologies, edited by I. Morris, 99–107. New Directions in Archaeology. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Gill, David W.J. “A Greek Price Inscription from Euesperides, Cyrenaica.” Libyan Studies 29 (1998): 83–88.Google Scholar
Gill, David W.J. “Review of Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Antiquities (Los Angeles 1997).” Bryn Mawr Classical Review (1998). http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1998/98.6.08.html (accessed on April 30, 2007).
Gill, David W.J. “Review of Neil Brodie, Morag M. Kersel, Christina Luke, and Kathryn Walker Tubb (eds.), Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and the Antiquities Trade (2006), and Eleanor Robson, Luke Treadwell, and Chris Gosden (eds.), Who Owns Objects? The Ethics and Politics of Collecting Cultural Artefacts (2006).” Journal of Field Archaeology 32, 1 (2007): 103–06.Google Scholar
Gill, David W. J., and Christopher Chippindale. “From Boston to Rome: Reflections on Returning Antiquities.” International Journal of Cultural Property 13 (2006): 311–31.Google Scholar
Gill, David W. J. “The Illicit Antiquities Scandal: What it has done to Classical Archaeology Collections.” American Journal of Archaeology 111 (2007): 571–74.Google Scholar
Gill, David W.J., and Michael Vickers. “They were Expendable: Greek Vases in the Etruscan Tomb.” Revue des études anciennes 97 (1995): 225–49.Google Scholar
Harden, D.B. Glass of the Caesars. Milan: Olivetti, 1987.
Kozloff, Arielle P., David G. Mitten, and Suzannah Fabing. The Gods Delight: The Human Figure in Classical Bronze. Cleveland, OH; Bloomington, IN: Cleveland Museum of Art/Indiana University Press, 1998.
Lissarrague, François. Greek Vases: The Athenians and their Images. New York: Riverside Book Company, 2001.
Mattusch, Carol C. The Fire of Hephaistos: Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museums, 1996.
Mattusch, Carol C. The Victorious Youth. Getty Museum: Studies on Art. Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997.
Mazur, Susan. “Italy Will Contest Medea Vase now at Cleveland Museum.” Scoop.co.nz posted October 9, 2006. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0610/S00114.htm (accessed July 11, 2007).
Mazur, Susan. 2007. “Italy's List of Lost Treasures at Cleveland.” In Scoop.co.nz posted April 22, 2007. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00343.htm (accessed July 11, 2007).
Mead, Rebecca. “Den of Antiquity: The Met and the Antiquities Market.” The New Yorker, April 9, 2007: 52–61.
Meritt, Lucy S. History of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 1939–1980. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1984.
Moltesen, Mette. “The Reopened Getty Villa.” American Journal of Archaeology 111 (2007): 155–59.Google Scholar
Moore, Mary B. Attic Red-figured and White-ground Pottery: The Athenian Agora, Vol. 30. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1997.
Nørskov, Vinnie. Greek Vases in New Contexts: The Collecting and Trading of Greek Vases—An Aspect of the Modern Reception of Antiquity. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 2002.
Nyman, Lynette. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Email, and Public Relations statement, 2007.
Ober, Josiah, and Charles W. Hedrick (eds). “The Birth of Democracy.” An Exhibition Celebrating the 2500th Anniversary of Democracy at the National Archives, Washington, C.C. June 15, 1993—January 2, 1994. Washington: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens; The National Archives, Washington, DC: The Ministry of Culture, Greece, 1993.
Oliver, Andrew, Jr. Silver for the Gods: 800 Years of Greek and Roman Silver. Toledo, OH: The Toledo Museum of Art, 1977.
Ortiz, George. In Pursuit of the Absolute: Art of the Ancient World from the George Ortiz Collection. Berne: Benteli-Werd, 1994.
Osborne, Robin. “Why Did Athenian Pots Appeal to the Etruscans?” World Archaeology 33 (2001): 277–95.Google Scholar
Osellame, Julia. “Italian Government Says University Owns Stolen Art.” Dailyprincetonian.com posted March 27, 2006. http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/03/27/news/14936.shtml (accessed July 11, 2007).
Padgett, J. Michael. “An Attic Red-figure Volute-krater.” Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin 66 (1983–86 [1991]): 66–77.Google Scholar
Padgett, J. Michael. “Influence of a Satyric Drama on a Vase by the Methyse Painter.” American Journal of Archaeology 88 (1984): 255.Google Scholar
Padgett, J. Michael. “Objects of Desire: Greek Vases from the John B. Elliott Collection.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 61 (2002): 37–48.Google Scholar
Pavoledo, Elisabetta. “Top Collector is Asked to Relinquish Artifacts.” New York Times, November 29, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/arts/design/29loot.html?ei=5090&en=40aa4077f1a7329f&ex=1322456400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print (accessed July 11, 2007).
Philp, Catherine. “No Love Lost with Getty Museum as Italy Cries Foul Over Aphrodite.” The Times, November 13, 2006. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article635274.ece.
Picón, C.A., J.R. Mertens, E.J. Milleker, et al. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.
Princeton University, press statement, November 2005. http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW05-06/06-1214/notebook.html (accessed July 11, 2007).
Princeton University Art Museum. “Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1988.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 48 (1989): 38–59.Google Scholar
Princeton University Art Museum. “Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1989.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 49 (1990): 24–57.Google Scholar
Princeton University Art Museum. “Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1990.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 50 (1991): 16–69.Google Scholar
Princeton University Art Museum. “Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1991.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 51 (1992): 22–78.Google Scholar
Princeton University Art Museum. “Acquisitions of the Art Museum 2000.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 60 (2001): 66–93.Google Scholar
Renfrew, Colin. Loot, Legitimacy and Ownership: the Ethical Crisis in Archaeology. London: Duckworth, 2000.
Reverman, Martin. “The ‘Cleveland Medea’ Calyx Crater and the Iconography of Ancient Greek Theatre.” Theatre Research International 30 (2005): 3–18.Google Scholar
Rundgren, Jordan. Toledo Museum of Art, Email, and Public Relations statement, 2007.
Scarisbrick, Diana. “A Classical Warrior: Professor Sir John Boardman, Britain's Most Distinguished Historian of Ancient Greek Art, Talks to Diana Scarisbrick About His New Book.” Apollo (2006): 60–67.Google Scholar
Sewell, Rhonda B. 2005. “Ancient Vase to be Returned if Stolen: Museum Cooperating with Authorities.” Toledoblade.com posted on November 10, 2005. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbes.d11/article?AID=/20051110/NEWS15/511100399 (accessed July 11, 2007).
Smith, Amy C. 1999. “Eurymedon and the Evolution of Political Personifications in the Early Classic Period.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 119: 128–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sotirakopoulou, Peggy. The “Keros Hoard”: Myth or Reality? Searching for the Lost Pieces of a Puzzle. Athens: N.P. Goulandris Foundation—Museum of Cycladic Art, 2005.
Stewart, Andrew. Greek Sculpture: an Exploration. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.
Taylor, K. 2007. “Shelby White in Center Court at the Met.” The New York Sun, May 1, 2007. http://www.nysun.com/article/53523 (accessed May 10, 2007).
Tompkins, J.F., ed. Wealth of the Ancient World: the Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt Collections. Fort Worth, TX: Kimbell Art Museum, 1983.
Towne-Markus, Elana. Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum: Antiquities. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997.
Vala, Kirsten. “Italy Versus the Illicit Trade.” Archaeology (2006). http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/italytrial/update.html (accessed on April 30, 2007).Google Scholar
Vermeule, Cornelius C. “The God Apollo, a Ceremonial Table with Griffins and a Votive Basin.” Journal of the J. Paul Getty Museum 15 (1987) 27–34.Google Scholar
Vickers, Michael, and David W.J. Gill. Artful Crafts: Ancient Greek Silverware and Pottery. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.
Walker, Susan, and Maurice Bierbrier. Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. London: British Museum Press, 1997.
Watson, Peter. Sotheby's, the Inside Story. London: Bloomsbury, 1997.
Watson, Peter. “The Investigation of Frederick Schultz.” Culture Without Context 10 (2002): 21–26.Google Scholar
Watson, Peter, and Cecilia Todeschini. The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities from Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Great Museums. New York: Public Affairs, 2006.
White, Shelby. “Building American Museums: The Role of the Private Collector.” In Who Owns the Past? Cultural Policy, Cultural Property, and the Law, edited by K. Fitz Gibbon, 165–77. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press/American Council for Cultural Policy, 2005.