Source: CNN
Italy has the right to confiscate a life-size bronze statue dating back to the second or third centuries B.C. from the J. Paul Getty Villa Museum in Los Angeles, California, where it has been for half a century, according to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday.
The ruling came after the Getty Museum asked the European Court of Human Rights to intervene following a 2018 Italian court decree that the bronze statue should be confiscated and returned to Italy.
The statue, found at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea by fishermen in 1964, has been at the center of a decades-long effort by Italy to reclaim its “stolen” cultural heritage.
According to court documents, Italian officials claim the piece was stolen and smuggled out of the country before being eventually sold to the Getty Museum for around $4 million in 1978. The statue — known in Italy as the “Athlete of Fano,” but named by The Getty Museum as both the “Getty Bronze” and the “Victorious Youth” — is attributed to sculptor Lysippos and remains one of the most important examples of ancient Greek art from the Classical era, according to Italy’s Cultural Heritage Ministry.
The Getty Museum does not agree with the latest ruling. In a statement, they said: “We believe that Getty’s nearly 50-year public possession of an artwork that was neither created by an Italian artist nor found within the Italian territory is appropriate, ethical and consistent with American and international law.”
Italian authorities have been on a quest to recover hundreds of artworks illegally dug out of excavation sites or stolen by so-called tomb raiders and sold on the black market and the Victorious Youth has long been in their sights.
In 2007, the Getty returned 40 artifacts of questionable provenance in a landmark deal that paved the way for many other museums around the world to return stolen art and artifacts to Italy and Greece. The Victorious Youth was on the 2007 list, but the Getty refused to return it, citing the fact that it was found in international waters, and therefore not necessarily an Italian artifact.
Italy’s Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, said the European court finally set the record straight on the contested bronze.
“The European Court of Strasbourg has recognized the rights of the Italian State with an unequivocal ruling,” he said in a statement. “The judges were clear regarding the ownership of the ‘Victorious Athlete’ statue, found in the waters near the Marche coast and then stolen abroad. We will continue our action with renewed determination to have her back in Italy soon,” he said.
“We have interrupted all collaborative relationships with those foreign cultural institutions that do not respect the confiscation provisions issued by the Italian judicial authority for illegal export of cultural goods.”
The ministry also said it would now focus on other contentious pieces. “Activities continue to achieve the return from the Louvre Museum of various stolen artifacts… as well as for the return to Italy of the Doryphoros of Stabia from the Minneapolis Museum.”
“This is not just a victory for the Italian government. It’s a victory for culture,” Maurizio Fiorilli, an Italian government attorney, said after the court ruling.
Italy will now work with US authorities to return the statue, a spokesperson for the cultural ministry told CNN.