This sculpture by an unknown artist, “Victorious Youth” (300–100 BCE), bronze with inlaid copper, 59 5/8 x 27 9/16 x 11 in (151.5 x 70 x 27.9 cm), currently on view at the Getty Villa Malibu, is the subject of a current repatriation claim by Greece. (image courtesy The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California)
Year after year, the demands come from foreign governments, landing on the directors’ desks at some of the major museums in the United States: give us back our looted antiquities. And, after some delays and in some instances the assistance of the US State Department, these antiquities are being returned. The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has sent back 52 objects — 46 to Italy, six to Greece — since 2005, while the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York ceded title to 19 antiquities in its permanent collection to the government of Egypt in 2010, and 16 to Italy in 2006; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts transferred 13 objects to Italy that same year, and the Cleveland Museum of Art sent back 14 works to the country in 2008.
It’s not over by any means. Turkey, which has been accused …read more
Source: Hyperallergic