ROME – A European court on Thursday upheld Italy’s right to seize a prized Greek statue from the J. Paul Getty Museum in California, ruling that Italy was right to try to recover an important part of its cultural heritage and rejecting the museum’s appeal. .
The European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR, ruled that Italy’s years-long efforts to recover the Malibu-based Getty’s “Victorious Youth” statue were not disproportionate.
The Getty appealed a 2018 Italian high court ruling that upheld a confiscation order, claiming its rights to the statue had been violated by the Italian campaign to recover it.
“Victorious Youth,” a life-size bronze dating from 300 BC to 100 BC, is a highlight of the Getty Collection. Although the artist is unknown, some scholars believe it was made by Lysippus, Alexander the Great’s personal sculptor.
An Italian court in Pesaro ordered its seizure and return in 2010, at the height of Italy’s campaign to recover antiquities looted from its territory and sold to museums and private collectors around the world.
The Getty has long defended its right to the statue, saying Italy has no legal right to it.
Among other things, the Getty argued that the statue is of Greek origin, was found in international waters and was never part of Italian cultural heritage. It cited a 1968 Court of Cassation ruling that found no evidence that the statue belonged to Italy.
The bronze, which was taken from the sea in 1964 by Italian fishermen, was purchased by the Getty in 1977 for $4 million and has been on display at the Getty ever since.
Thursday’s decision by the ECtHR, based in Strasbourg, France, was a chamber decision. Both sides now have three months to request that the case be heard by the court’s Grand Chamber for a final decision.
There was no immediate comment from the Getty, and its lawyers referred comment to the museum. The Italian Ministry of Culture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Getty appealed to the ECtHR arguing, among other things, that Italy’s 2010 confiscation order constituted a violation of its right to enjoy its assets and that it would be deprived of that right if US authorities carried out the seizure.
The ECHR, however, ruled in favor of Italy and strongly reaffirmed Italy’s right to continue the protection of its cultural heritage, especially against illegal export.
“The court further considered that, owing, in particular, to the negligence or bad faith of the Getty Trust in purchasing the statue, despite being aware of the claims of the Italian State and its efforts to recover it, the confiscation order was proportionate to the objective of guaranteeing the return of an object that was part of Italy’s cultural heritage”, said the summary of the decision.
The statue, dubbed the “Getty Bronze,” is a signature piece of the museum. Standing around 1.52 meters tall, the statue of the young athlete raising his right hand to an olive wreath around his head is one of the few life-size Greek bronzes to survive.
The bronze is believed to have sunk along with the ship carrying it to Italy after the Romans conquered Greece. After being found in the nets of Italian fishermen trawling in international waters in 1964, he was buried in an Italian cabbage patch and hidden in a priest’s bathtub before being removed from Italy.
The Italian government claims that the material was brought to Italy and then exported illegally, with the illegal export being the basis of its confiscation order.
Italy has successfully recovered thousands of artifacts from museums, collections and private owners around the world that it says were looted or illegally stolen from the country, and recently opened a museum to house them until they can be returned to the regions where they were. looted.
The most important work to date that Italy has successfully brought back is the Euphronios Krater, one of the finest ancient Greek vases in existence. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which bought it for $1 million in 1972 from an art dealer later accused of acquiring looted artifacts, returned it to Italy in 2008.
In 2010, the same year that Italy ordered the “Victorious Youth” statue confiscated from the Getty, a criminal trial in Rome against the Getty’s former curator of antiquities, Marion True, ended. After years of trial, the Rome court ruled that the statute of limitations had expired due to allegations that True received stolen artifacts. She denied any wrongdoing.
In 2007, the Getty, without admitting any wrongdoing, agreed to return 40 ancient treasures in exchange for long-term loans of other artifacts. Similar agreements have been reached with other museums.
Under the terms of the 2007 agreement, the two sides agreed to postpone further discussion of “Victorious Youth” until the court case was decided.
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