The Getty Museum in Los Angeles will return to Italy a group of life-size terracotta figures depicting a seated poet and two mermaids. The group, also known as “Orpheus and the Sirens” will leave for Rome in September to be exhibited in a public collection designated by the Ministry of Culture.
In compliance with its policies of returning stolen or illegally excavated pieces to their countries of origin, “Orpheus and the Sirens” have meanwhile been removed from the galleries pending their repatriation. The extreme fragility of the fourth century BC group – originally the statues were polychrome with traces of colors from golden orange to pink, red, black and brown – will require special equipment and procedures for moving to Italy, an area in which the Getty has extensive experience.
Since 2006 the statues, probably coming from the Taranto area, appeared in a list of artifacts that Italy claimed to be in possession of. The restitution follows an investigation conducted by Matthew Bogdanos of the Manhattan prosecutor’s office specializing in the fight against the trafficking of antiquities, the same that in recent days has led to the return to Italy of 142 archaeological finds, many of which come from from the collection of the New York financier Michael Steinhardt.
“Thanks to their work we have determined that these objects must be returned,” said Timothy Potts, the director of the Getty, in a statement released by the museum. A colossal head of a divinity from the second century after Christ will also be returned, a stone form for the casting of pendant earrings from the same period, an oil painting entitled “The Oracle of Delphi” from 1881 by the Neapolitan painter Camillo Miola (called Biacca) and an Etruscan bronze censer from the fourth century BC. The first three pieces had been purchased by the Getty in the 1970s, the fourth in 1996.
No one has ever been exhibited in recent years.
“We appreciate our excellent relationship with the Ministry of Culture and with our colleagues throughout Italy with whom we share the mission for the protection of cultural heritage,” said Potts. The Getty’s relations with Italy have not always been oriented towards beauty: the Californian museum in the early 2000s was at the center of controversy for the purchases of illegally excavated works of art and its former curator Marion True ended up on trial in Italy. More recently, the Getty was at the center of a tug-of-war with the Italian judiciary over a bronze statue – the Victorious Athlete – attributed to Lysippus, rescued in 1964 by fishermen in the Adriatic and of which Italy, strong of a sentence of the Supreme Court of 2018, has been asking for repatriation for years.