Italy has the permit Of confiscate the Greek bronze «theVictorious Athlete” Of Lysippusfished out inAdriatic in the 1960s and now preserved at Getty Museum of Los Angeles. She decided it, with judgment today May 2nd, the European Court of Human Rights. The statue disappeared after its discovery in 1964 until its purchase by the museum in 1977. Since then the Getty has refused Of return it to Italy. The museum had presented appeal to the European Court of Human Rights – which is based in Strasbourg – after the Court of Cassation in 2019 confirmed an Italian order to confiscate the bronze. Following today’s ruling, Getty has three months to appeal, but the court is not obliged to grant the request. Rome has been trying to recover the 6th century BC statue since it was auctioned for $3.9 million in Germany. He had also tried to prevent their transfer to the United States via Great Britain.
Sangiuliano: «Worked hard to get him back»
“We have worked hard» to get it back, said the minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano. Rome no longer lends works to museums with which it has disputes, he added. However, the sculpture remained on display at the Getty Villa in the exclusive Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. For the museum the attempts to confiscate it they went against the fundamental right to property protected in the Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. «We will continue with a renewed one determination our action for get it back soon in Italy», concluded the minister.
The sentence and the right of confiscation
In their ruling, the Italian judges had stated that the statue belonged to heritage cultural of Village because it was recovered from one ship swing Italian flag. They had also underlined the «continuum between Greek civilization and the subsequent Roman cultural experience». The Strasbourg Court, rejecting Getty’s appeal, agreed that Rome “had reasonably demonstrated that the statue was part of the Italian cultural heritage and had also legally belonged to the State”. The Court underlined that «thebuyer of a good must to investigate carefully on his origin to avoid possible confiscation requests”. «The Getty Trust, purchasing the statue in absence of any trial of its legitimacy provenance and with full knowledge of what the Italian authorities demanded of it, it had disregarded what was prescribed by law, at least with negligence, or perhaps in bad faith», added the Court. There was therefore «a clear legal basis for the provision confiscation of the statue.” The judges also recalled the international agreements which protect against the illicit export of cultural property, such as a 1970 convention ofUNESCO.
Refunds in the past
Italy was already there collided with the Getty Museum, reaching an agreement in 2007 for the return of 42 ancient objects that Rome claimed they had been stolen and exported illegally. Founded by oil billionaire John Paul Getty, the museum is supported by the world’s richest art foundation, whose assets were estimated at several billion dollars in 2009.
