Museum admits pieces may have been looted
September 28, 2005
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles's Getty Museum says it has not done anything illegal despite claims that half the masterpieces in its antiquities collection were bought from dealers accused of selling looted artefacts.
But the museum - established by the J. Paul Getty Trust left by the US oil billionaire - admits that 82 pieces in its antiquities collection of several thousand items were acquired from dubious sources.
The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that the museum's lawyers had determined that the suspect items included 54 of the 104 ancient artworks that the Getty has identified as masterpieces.
The newspaper said the items had been purchased from dealers now under investigation for allegedly selling artefacts looted from ruins in Italy.
The saga will be a headache for the museum's new Australian director, Michael Brand, who was installed last month. The Getty yesterday insisted it had never knowingly bought illegally uncovered artefacts.
It defended its curator of antiquities, Marion True, who has been charged in Italy with conspiring to traffic in looted antiquities. "The Getty remains convinced that it never knowingly acquired an object that had been illegally excavated or exported from Italy or any other country," the museum said in a statement.
The museum attacked the Los Angeles Times for quoting leaked documents of "questionable credibility" in its report, but referred to an "internal analysis that identified 82 of the objects" in the museum's antiquities collection as being obtained from dealers now under investigation.
"The fact that those dealers may have been discredited does not, however, mean that any object acquired from one of them was illegally excavated or exported," the museum said in a statement.
Italy is seeking the return of 42 objects in the Getty's collection. But the museum declined to comment further on the allegations.
"As much as it would like to be able to do so, the Getty cannot respond to many of the Times's assertions because they rely on privileged and confidential information stolen from the Getty's files, and responding would jeopardise Dr True's right to a fair trial in the current proceeding," it said.
The Los Angeles Times said Italian authorities had identified dozens of objects in the Getty collection as looted, including ancient urns, vases and a marble statue of Apollo.
Citing hundreds of pages of Getty records, it said museum officials had received information as early as 1985 that three of their principal suppliers were selling objects that probably had been looted and that the museum continued to buy from them anyway.
The dealers include Giacomo Medici and American Robert Hecht Jr who have been charged along with True by Italian authorities.
AFP
Link Here
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles's Getty Museum says it has not done anything illegal despite claims that half the masterpieces in its antiquities collection were bought from dealers accused of selling looted artefacts.
But the museum - established by the J. Paul Getty Trust left by the US oil billionaire - admits that 82 pieces in its antiquities collection of several thousand items were acquired from dubious sources.
The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that the museum's lawyers had determined that the suspect items included 54 of the 104 ancient artworks that the Getty has identified as masterpieces.
The newspaper said the items had been purchased from dealers now under investigation for allegedly selling artefacts looted from ruins in Italy.
The saga will be a headache for the museum's new Australian director, Michael Brand, who was installed last month. The Getty yesterday insisted it had never knowingly bought illegally uncovered artefacts.
It defended its curator of antiquities, Marion True, who has been charged in Italy with conspiring to traffic in looted antiquities. "The Getty remains convinced that it never knowingly acquired an object that had been illegally excavated or exported from Italy or any other country," the museum said in a statement.
The museum attacked the Los Angeles Times for quoting leaked documents of "questionable credibility" in its report, but referred to an "internal analysis that identified 82 of the objects" in the museum's antiquities collection as being obtained from dealers now under investigation.
"The fact that those dealers may have been discredited does not, however, mean that any object acquired from one of them was illegally excavated or exported," the museum said in a statement.
Italy is seeking the return of 42 objects in the Getty's collection. But the museum declined to comment further on the allegations.
"As much as it would like to be able to do so, the Getty cannot respond to many of the Times's assertions because they rely on privileged and confidential information stolen from the Getty's files, and responding would jeopardise Dr True's right to a fair trial in the current proceeding," it said.
The Los Angeles Times said Italian authorities had identified dozens of objects in the Getty collection as looted, including ancient urns, vases and a marble statue of Apollo.
Citing hundreds of pages of Getty records, it said museum officials had received information as early as 1985 that three of their principal suppliers were selling objects that probably had been looted and that the museum continued to buy from them anyway.
The dealers include Giacomo Medici and American Robert Hecht Jr who have been charged along with True by Italian authorities.
AFP
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 6:54 AM
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