Photogallery – The Greek statue of the Athlete of Fano that Getty must return to Italy
Italy has every right to confiscate and request the return of the Greek bronze statue ofAthlete from Fanoattributed to Lysippus, which is currently found in Getty Villa museum in Malibu, in California. This was established unanimously by the European Court of Human Rights, rejecting the appeal filed by the Paul Getty Foundation for violation of property protection.
The history of the Greek statue of the Athlete of Fano In its ruling, the Strasbourg Court therefore recognized the legitimacy of the action undertaken by the Italian authorities to recover the work of art that was found in the waters of the Adriatic, off the coast of the Marche, in 1964. And which, after several vicissitudes, was purchased by the Getty Foundation in 1977 and finally landed at the Malibu museum.
The decision of the EU Court in Strasbourg The judges, in particular, underlined that the protection of a country’s cultural and artistic heritage also represents a priority from a legal point of view. Various international regulations also establish the right to combat the illicit purchase, import and export of goods belonging to a nation’s cultural heritage. The Getty foundation, the Court further underlined, behaved “negligently or not in good faith in purchasing the statue despite being aware of the requests made by the Italian State and the efforts undertaken for its recovery”. Hence the finding that the decision of the Italian judges to proceed with the confiscation of the disputed property “was proportionate to the objective of guaranteeing its restitution”.