Latest Marion True Stories
SWANSEA, Wales, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- David Gill, archaeologist, reflects on the decision to drop the Italian legal case against Marion True, a former curator of the J. Paul Getty Museum. In 2005 Marion True was charged in a case that was linked to the movement of recently surfaced antiquities from Italy to North America. The case has dragged out and in mid-October the judge hearing the case in Rome dropped the case due to the statute of limitation. In 1996 the Getty acquired the private...
SWANSEA, Wales, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- David Gill, archaeologist, reflects on the antiquities acquired by the Miho Museum in Japan. The Miho Museum opened in November 1997. It was decided to incorporate archaeological objects from western Europe and Mesopotamia in the displays. Thus, from about 1990, dealers acting for the museum were on the watch for significant pieces. Some of the acquisitions were well known. They included the relief excavated at Nimrud by Sir Austen Henry Layard, and...
SWANSEA, Wales, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- David Gill, archaeologist, reflects on the latest exhibition of antiquities to be returned to Italy. An exhibition celebrating 40 years of the Comando Carabinieri per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale opened in Rome at the end of September 2009. The Carabinieri unit has played a key role in the fight against the destruction of archaeological sites in Italy to provide items for the worldwide antiquities market. The exhibition is housed in the Museo...
SWANSEA, Wales, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- David Gill, archaeologist, reflects on the news that Giacomo Medici has lost his appeal in the Italian courts. The Geneva-based antiquities dealer Giacomo Medici has been the focus of attention since police raids on his Geneva warehouse in the Freeport back in the mid 1990s. Objects seized from the facility shed light on a well-beaten track between looted archaeological sites in Italy and dealers in northern Europe. The paper trail also pointed to...
By Karolos Grohmann ATHENS (Reuters) - Two ancient Greek artefacts, which were smuggled out of the country, came home on Thursday as part of an agreement with the J. Paul Getty Museum. A 2,400-year-old, black limestone stele - grave marker - and a marble votive relief dating from about 490 BC went on display at Athens' National Archaeological Museum only hours after being flown back from Los Angeles. They are the first installment of a deal to send back works of ancient art that were...
BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston's Museum of Fine Arts this week reached a tentative agreement with the Italian government to return objects suspected of being plundered antiquities. The museum will transfer "certain objects of Italian origin in the Museum's collection to Italy," it said in a statement. In return Italy has agreed to loan pieces to the museum to be displayed in special exhibitions, the two sides said. Museum spokeswoman Kelly Gifford would not say which items would be shipped...
By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Getty Villa, the Malibu antiquities showcase inspired by an oil billionaire's love of ancient Rome, reopens on Saturday after an eight-year renovation -- and the timing could hardly be worse. The long-awaited reopening of the spectacular ocean-side Villa, regarded as one of the cultural landmarks of Los Angeles, has been clouded by allegations that one of the world's richest art institutions used its muscle to acquire looted artifacts....
By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The nation's main umbrella group for nonprofit foundations has placed the J. Paul Getty Trust, one of the world's richest art institutions, on 60 days probation over allegations of financial misconduct leveled in recent news reports. The action taken by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Foundations carries no finding of wrongdoing, but is tantamount to a notice that the trust is "not in good standing," council president Steve Gunderson said...
By Rachel Sanderson ARPI, Italy (Reuters) - Say 'tomb raider' to Francesco Racano and he doesn't think of a Hollywood action movie hero. He fights the real thing. The 51-year-old archaeologist has worked for more than half his life at Arpi, a sprawling Greco-Roman necropolis in Italy's deep south that is bigger than most small villages. Arpi has the kind of embarrassment of riches few countries can boast -- hundreds of tombs buried close to the surface and brimming with treasures. But...
By Silvia Aloisi ROME (Reuters) - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art may return disputed antiquities to Italy by early 2007 under a deal meant to resolve Italy's claims to some of the Met's most prized artifacts, an Italian official said on Friday. The culture ministry official said that as part of the possible agreement, which is still being worked out and requires approval by the Met's board, Italy would in exchange lend objects of equal value to the museum on a rotating basis....
