The following article appeared this evening on Yahoo. --ECW
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Italy Discusses Questioned Art With Getty
By AIDAN LEWIS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jan 27, 4:02 PM ET
ROME - The director of the J. Paul Getty museum met Friday in Rome with
Culture Ministry officials who have asked the California museum to return
artifacts they claim were illegally smuggled out of Italy.
Italian anti-art theft police and legal experts were among those taking part
in discussions with Getty Director Michael Brand and a team of experts from
the museum, Culture Ministry spokeswoman Tiziana Benini said.
Italy has asked for the return of 42 items it believes were stolen,
including a statue of Aphrodite that the Getty bought for $18 million in
1988.
A former Getty curator, Marion True, is on trial in Rome accused of having
knowingly purchasing stolen artifacts for the museum. True denies any
wrongdoing.
The case has been seen as a warning from Italy to the art world and several
major U.S. museums have been implicated.
An Italian art dealer has been sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence in a
connected case. He is appealing the ruling.
Benini said the Getty had requested Friday's meeting, and Italian
authorities were waiting to hear the museum's position after Brand was
appointed at the end of last year.
On the eve of the visit, Getty spokesman Ron Hartwig said it was too early
to speculate about what, if any, objects the museum might return.
"The Getty's objective is to develop a fuller sense of all the evidence
available regarding the objects in question," Brand said in a statement
released by Getty officials ahead of the visit. "We want to be in a better
position to continue our dialogue with the Italian government."
The Italian Culture Ministry has also been in negotiations with the New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art over disputed cultural treasures.
Italy has proposed the Met receive long-term loans of important antiquities
if it gives some of the most spectacular pieces in its collections back to
Italy by the end of the year.
The Getty Trust operates two museums, the Getty Center in Los Angeles and
the Getty Villa in Malibu. The latter houses the 44,000 pieces that make up
the museum's heralded antiquities collection. It is scheduled to reopen
Saturday after eight years of renovations.
Brand said during a pre-opening tour of the villa on Tuesday that the museum
would hand over any objects determined to be the rightful property of
someone else.
"Like any other museum, we've always returned works of art when they've come
into question," he said.