Exterior view of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California (USA), Bob Riha Jr. (Getty Images)
The Getty Museum has been controversy over the provenance of some items in its collection for decades. This Thursday the company announced an agreement to return to Italy the set of ancient terracotta sculptures of Orpheus and the Sirens and is preparing to return four other objects later obtained during illegal archaeological excavations.
Orpheus and the Sirens are no longer on display in the museum. It was the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan Attorney’s Office that, after trailing a crime, concluded that the sculptures had been acquired at an illegal archaeological dig. The sculptures were acquired in 1976 by J. Paul Getty shortly before his death on June 6th of the same year. The cost at the time was $550,000.
Set of antique terracotta sculptures “Orpheus and the Sirens” to be delivered to Italy in September. Getty Museum
“In accordance with Getty’s policy of returning objects to their country of origin or country of modern discovery when reliable information indicates they were stolen or found during illegal excavations, the museum has removed the objects from public view and is preparing to transport them to Rome September, where they will join the collections designated by the Ministry of Culture,” the company said in a statement. The museum explains that the extreme fragility of the sculptures requires special equipment and procedures for their transport.
Orpheus and the Sirens date from between 350 and 300 BC. and are a group of almost life-size sculptures. Mermaids are actually part women and part birds. The male figure is a singer, mouth slightly open, who had a harp of sorts which is now missing. In the explanation of its collection, the museum states that its identity is uncertain, but it could be Orpheus. The mythical poet was associated with the sirens in Argonautics as he helped Jason and his crew get past the sirens safely by playing music and casting spells on the monsters. “In the art of the 4th century B.C. However, around 300 BC Orpheus wears a highly embroidered oriental costume: a long, flowing robe with a short cloak and a soft Phrygian cap. Hence the seated man may be a representation of a deceased mortal rather than a musician,” he suggests.
The museum adds that given the size and funerary associations of the three figures, it’s likely that the group decorated a tomb. This large sculptural ensemble, originally painted in bright colors, “is an exceptional example of the terracotta production characteristic of the Greek colonies of southern Italy,” he says.
Other returns
Recent research by the Getty and independent scholars has led to the conclusion that the museum must also return a colossal marble head of a 2nd-century AD deity; a 2nd-century AD stone mold for casting pendants; an 1881 oil painting titled The Oracle by Camillo Miola; and a 4th-century BC Etruscan bronze thymiateria, a type of ceremonial incense burner
The first three objects were acquired by J. Paul Getty and the Getty Museum in the 1970s; the fourth in 1996. None of these objects have been opened to the public in recent years. The museum is currently working with the Ministry of Culture to organize his return.
Painting “The Oracle” by Camillo Miola, also brought back to Italy by the Getty Museum. Getty Museum
“We value our strong and fruitful relationship with the Italian Ministry of Culture and with our many other archaeologists, restorers and other specialists throughout Italy, with whom we share the mission of advancing the preservation of ancient cultural heritage,” said Timothy Potts, Director of the Museum, through an explanation.
Getty and Italy have mended relations that have endured tumultuous times. Marion True, a former museum curator, was charged with stealing ancient art in Rome in 2005, although she was never convicted. He resigned from his position at the museum and the following year, but the scandal caused by revelations about the museum’s practices led to long negotiations for the return of artworks to Italy. In December 2006, in a letter to the Getty Foundation, he explained that he was being made to “carry the weight” of practices known, sanctioned, and consented to by museum management.
In 2007, Italy dropped the charges against True, and Getty reached an agreement with the Italian Ministry of Culture for the return of 40 of the 46 claimed objects, including the 5th-century BC limestone and marble statue of Aphrodite. BC, paintings and frescoes stolen from Pompeii, marble and bronze sculptures, and Greek vases.
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