Blog Subscription via Follow.it

Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Lawrence Fleischman. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Lawrence Fleischman. Sort by date Show all posts

November 3, 2019

Sunday, November 03, 2019 - ,,,,,, 1 comment

Dear Christie's: What's the story on your provenance on this antefix?


An interesting antefix has been published with Christie's as part of their December 4, 2019 sales event which deserves a closer examination regarding its legitimacy on the ancient art market.  For those who do not know, an anteflix is an upright ornament, used by ancient builders along the eaves of a tiled roof to conceal tile joints.

The provenance for the antiflix is listed as follows:

Provenance

While not specified in Christie's very brief collection history, Ingrid McAlpine was the wife of Bruce McAlpine, husband and wife proprietors of McAlpine Ancient Art Limited in the UK. 

While not completely identical, the soon to be auctioned anteflix on consignment with Christie's, closely resembles another ancient Etruscan antefix in the form of a maenad and Silenus.  This one once graced the cover of the exhibition catalog "A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman."   That South Etruscan, 500-475 BCE, terracotta and pigment antiflix was purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum from the Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman collection via Robin Symes for a tidy sum of  $396,000 and exhibited at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1995.  Later, in 2007, that antiquity would be relinquished to Italy by the J. Paul Getty Museum after the antefix was matched to a Polaroid photo recovered during a 1995 police raid on warehouse space rented by Giacomo Medici at Ports Francs & Entrepôts in Geneva. 

The Christie's auction antefix also closely resembles another pair of suspect terracotta and pigment antefixes depicting a maenad and Silenus.  This grouping was once on display at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum.  Like with the J. Paul Getty purchase, an image of the Copenhagen antefix showing a fragmentary antefix were matched with photos in the seized Medici dossier.  As with the Getty terracotta, this object too was eventually restituted to Italy. 

Bruce McAlpine's name also comes up with other illicit objects later identified as having been laundered through the licit art market which were later assessioned into a collection at a prestigious museum.  An Attic black-figured hydria (no.3), once on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston came through McAlpine via Palladion Antike Kunst, a gallery operated by Ursula Becchina, the wife of Gianfranco Becchina.  In addition, the Italian authorities working on these restitutions seized a copy of a letter, written by the staff of Bruce and Ingrid McAlpine Ancient Art Gallery dated 8 July 1986 which tied them to at least one transaction with Giacomo Medici via companies the disgraced dealer operated through third parties, fronts or pseudonyms. 

 One final illustration of the triangulation in the world of illicit transactions


The names of Bruce and Ingrid McAlpine appear alongside Robin Symes AND Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman for the donation of an Apulian bell-krater to the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. This vase too was restituted to Italy in October 2006.

All of which leads to several questions

Why was Bruce Alpine's name and the name of his ancient art firm omitted from the provenance record published by Christie's ahead of the December 4th auction?   

Was this omission an accidental oversight on Christie's part or an elective decision, perhaps as a way to reduce the possibility of the object's previous owners drawing unnecessary attention?    

What collection history does the auction house have, if any, that predates the 1994 McAlpine acquisition date?

and lastly,

What steps, if any, did Christie's take to contact the Italian authorities , in order to crosscheck whether or not this object might or might not be acceptable for sale? 
By:  Lynda Albertson

July 30, 2020

Thursday, July 30, 2020 - ,,,,,,,, No comments

Restitution: Lot 448, Christie's


Early last November we wrote a blog post asking Christie's about an interesting polychrome painted 5th century BCE antefix in the form of a dancing maenad.  It had been scheduled to come up for sale in their December 4, 2019 auction and I felt the artefact deserved a closer examination regarding its legitimacy on the ancient art market.  For those who do not know, an anteflix is a decorative upright ornament, used by ancient builders along the eaves of a roof to conceal tile joints.




The provenance of the antefex was listed by Christie's as follows:

Provenance:

While nothing before 1994 was specified in Christie's single-line collection history, we know that before she died Ingrid McAlpine was once the wife of Bruce McAlpine, and for a time, before their divorce, both were proprietors of McAlpine Ancient Art Limited in the UK. 

While not completely identical, the Christie's antefix closely resembles another ancient Etruscan antefix in the form of a maenad and Silenus.  This one once graced the cover of the exhibition catalog "A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman" depicted to the left.  

That South Etruscan, 500-475 BCE, polychrome anteflix was purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum from the Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman collection via Robin Symes for a tidy sum of $396,000 and displayed in an exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art back in 1995.  In 2007, that antefix was restituted back to Italy by the J. Paul Getty Museum after a Polaroid photo, recovered during a 1995 police raid on warehouse space rented by Giacomo Medici at Ports Francs & Entrepôts in Geneva, was matched to the artefact in the California museum's collection.

The Christie's auction dancing maenad also closely resembled another pair of suspect polychrome antefixes depicting a maenad and Silenus.  This grouping was once part of the collection of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum.  Like with the J. Paul Getty purchase, an image of one of the Copenhagen antefix and a foot were matched with photos law enforcement seized in the dealer Giacomo Medici's business dossier.  Eventually, as with the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Danes relinquished the pair of objects back to Italy.

Bruce and Ingrid McAlpine's names also comes up with other plundered antiquities later identified as having been laundered through the licit art market and accessioned into the prestigious Museum of Fine Arts in Boston collection.   An Attic black-figured hydria, (no.3) came through McAlpine via Palladion Antike Kunst, a gallery operated by Ursula Becchina, the wife of disgraced dealer Gianfranco Becchina.  The couple's names also appear alongside Robin Symes AND (again) Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman for the donation of an Apulian bell-krater. Both of which were restituted to Italy.

In addition, former Judge Paolo Giorgio Ferri, the Italian judge who worked heavily on these looting cases, showed me a letter, seized by the Italian authorities during their investigations which was written by the staff of Bruce and Ingrid McAlpine Ancient Art Gallery.   This letter, dated 8 July 1986, tied them once again to at least one transaction with Giacomo Medici and Christian Boursaud and referred obliquely to companies the convicted dealer operated through third parties, fronts or pseudonyms. 

All of which lead me to several (more) questions.

Why was Bruce Alpine's name, and the name of his ancient art firm conveniently omitted from the provenance record published by Christie's ahead of the December 4th auction?  
Was this omission an accidental oversight on Christie's part or an elective decision, perhaps as a way to reduce the possibility of the object's previous owners connections to the above mentioned dealers drawing unnecessary attention?    
What collection history did the auction house have, if any, that shows where or with whom this artefact belonged prior to the 1994 McAlpine acquisition date to demonstrate its legitimacy in the ancient art market?

Given that three antefixes depicting satyrs and maenads had already been returned to Italy as coming from clandestine excavations I brought my concerns to other Italian experts collaborating with ARCA, and to experts from the Villa Giulia, the Louvre,  and to the Carabinieri TPC.  Each acknowledged I had a right to be suspicious.

ARCA forensic researchers and a forensic archaeologist affiliated with the Louvre Museum pointed me to examples of molds that have been discovered at Etruscan excavations which also depict maenads and helped with comparison imaging.  Researchers in Rome who worked on the Becchina and Medici case identifications with the Rome courts pointed out similar antefixes from the ancient Etruscan cities of Veii and Falerii Veteres, which are part of Rome's Villa Giulia collection.  Both zones, situated on the southern limits of Etruria, were looted extensively.

But I was running out of time and without a smoking gun photo of the object in a looted state, I was also running out of evidence and leads.

I watched the days tick down until the item went up for auction and then sold, in just under two minutes of bidding.  Frustrated, and thinking this little lady was lost for the present, I filed my research away, hoping that down the road she might reappear and that by that point the Carabinieri, MiBACT or I might have more evidence, enough to build upon to make a case for restitution.

Surprisingly, BVLGARI, the Italian luxury brand came to the aid of its country and one frustrated antiquities researcher.  They too had been watching the auction and knew of our efforts to try and bring our girl home. Unbeknownst to me the jewelry firm had purchased the antefix, and then working through cultural diplomacy channels, donated it, through the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, to the Italian State and to the Villa Giulia specifically.

Looking back, with a view from the client's side of the equation:

When one wants to bid at an auction at Christie's, over the telephone, or online, a buyer has to prove that he or she is legitimate. To do so they must email the auction house a digital photo or PDF scan of a valid photo ID (eg. Driver’s Licence, Passport), and a proof of address.  For this proof, they will accept a recent utility bill or bank statement or corporate documents.  With these verifiable and valid documents, the auction house then trusts the potential buyer enough to open up an account in his or her name.

But Christie's seemed to need much less convincing paperwork before accepting the antefix of the dancing maenad for consignment.  Having reviewed the provenance paperwork for this antiquity, this antiquity came with only two, not very convincing documents, one of which had no dates whatsoever.

Those were:

1.) An undated document, which Christie's referred to as a "McAlpine stock card" for stock No. 2/114 noting a vendor in the name of ‘Kuhn’ of a "Terracotta antefix in the form of an akrotère."  

 As mentioned above, an antefix, which comes from the Latin word antefigere, (to fasten before), is an architectural fixture which caps then end tiles of a tiled roof.

An akarotère is an architectural ornament placed on a flat pedestal called a plinth and is an ornamental sculpture or pedestal such as the one to the right. These sit above the pediment of a Classical temple and do not extend from the ends of roof tiles.  I also failed to find any Akarotères that picture a dancing maenad.

2.) An 8 February 1994 pricing document with no company names listed anywhere, which listed 15 carefully redacted artworks and one final artefact at the very bottom which listing item  2/156 as "an Antefix with musician, height 40 cm" with a list price of $35,000.

As with the first document, this second is puzzling.  The height of the listed object is slightly off, the stock number doesn't match, and the price indicated is three times higher than the antefix at Christie's sold for. And while the paper is dated 1994 in keeping with Christie's stated provenance, this document by no means shows that the document references the McAlpine's acquisition as it lists no company the purchase was made through and seems merely to be an price listing from some unidentified entity.  The visible item's description is also a bit puzzling.  While the Christie's maenad does depict her carrying a crotalum (a kind of clapper) in her right hand, it would be a stretch to call her a musician. Even if she could be described as a musician, generally speaking if you know the word antefix, its reasonable to assume you would be familiar with their depictions in history.  Why use the word pairing "with musician" instead of using "of a musician" or "of a maenad"?

This was all the documentation Christie's needed to consider an object valid for sale to a willing buyer?

They should be ashamed of themselves. 

Yet, at least we have a somewhat happy ending BVLGARI's donation.  Despite being auctioned and despite a long delay due to the COVID pandemic, she's finally home, and today, at 4pm, at a formal restitution ceremony, this lovely dancing lady took her place with her companions, in the Etruscan exhibition Colors of the Etruscans** at Rome's Centrale Montemartini.  

On the left the antefix as offered for sale by Christies. On the right the antefix at the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia. This antefix was found in 1937 in Veii, in the course of regular excavations of the Soprintendenza at the Etruscan sanctuary of Campetti North: a site previously looted by tombaroli. It seems evident that both antefixes were cast from the same mould and decorated in the same workshop. Therefore, most probably were originally part of the decoration of a single building.


 On hand for the restitution celebration were:

 Claudio Parisi Presicce, Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage -Director of Archaeological and Historical - Artistic Museums

Valentino Nizzo, Director of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia

Margherita Eichberg, ABAP Superintendent for the Metropolitan area of Rome, the Province of Viterbo and Southern Etruria

Sara Neri, Direzione Generale Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio (Service IV, Circulation)

Lt. Col.. Nicola Candido, Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage

Leonardo Bochicchio, Daniele F. Maras, curators of the exhibition


I for one am glad she's home, and to also have been a part of her journey.  She's travelled a long way, from the Etruscan city of Veii, to London, and back home again.  May her bare feet forever dance on Italian soil.

By:  Lynda Albertson

** This exhibition will be open at the Centrale Montemartini museum through 01 November 2020.

October 9, 2014

Thursday, October 09, 2014 - ,, No comments

Parthenon Galleries, British Museum: A selection of friezes and sculptures from the Temple to Athena

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin,
 ARCA Blog Editor

London, October 8 - I had a transcendental experience with art yesterday. I spent more than 2 1/2 hours looking at friezes and sculptures from the Temple of Athena -- those pieces that remain after more than 2,400 years, that once adorned the Parthenon (447 and 432 BC) in Greece. It was my first visit to the British Museum, the first time I'd seen the "Elgin Marbles" and the experience was powerful. I visited the three Greek temples of Paestum in 2009 and felt awed by their grandeur so my first reaction was that I would have liked to have seen these pieces as they were installed in Athens until severely damaged (by a Venetian commander) in the 17th century.  My second reaction was as a feminist -- for the profound loss for two sculptures crucial to worshipping the goddess of war and wisdom (as described in the British Museum's excellent audio guide) -- the sculpture of Athena's birth from the head of Zeus and the "colossal statue" of Athena Parthenos constructed in gold and ivory by Phidias, the most famous sculptor of all antiquity. I would have liked my 14-year-old daughter and her best friend to have seen this now lost statue of Athena by Phidias -- for them to witness the power and beauty of a woman as portrayed even in ancient times.

The British Museum provides information about the controversy about the Parthenon sculptures or the "Elgin Marbles" on its website here. I'll just share with you photos of some of the pieces in the exhibit which humbled me with their beauty and perseverance.

Even the back side of these attached sculptures were finished.

These sculptures were reacting to the birth of Athena
from the head of Zeus which would have been to the right.

Each reaction is carefully shown in the position of body.

My favorite -- Aphrodite's reaction to the birth of Athena.

British Museum, South Metope XXVII: "This is composition-
ally one of the most impressive metopes. A centaur pressing
a wound in his back tries to escape, while the Lapith restrains
him and prepares to deliver a final blow. The Lapith's cloak
fans out to provide a dramatic backdrop."

British Museum, South Metope IV: "The heads of these
figures were taken by Capt. Hartmann, a member
of the Venetian army that occupied Athens in 1688.
 They are now in Copenhagen." 

British Museum, South Metope V: "The centaur's head is in
Würzburg."

At the end of my visit I noticed two signs of gratitude to Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman for their financial support in 1998 for the Parthenon Galleries. Mr. Fleischman, an art dealer, also donated a large portion of his antiquities collection (collected over 40 years) to the J. Paul Getty Villa in Malibu (see his obituary in The New York Times). The plaques read:
The trustees record their thanks to Lawrence A. Fleischman for a generous grant to renew this gallery in 1998. 
The trustees record their thanks to Barbara G. Fleischman for a generous grant to this gallery in 1998.

Sign thanking L. Fleischman above door.

Sign thanking B. Fleischman above another door.


November 20, 2018

Tuesday, November 20, 2018 - , No comments

How long does it take to achieve restitution of a looted antiquity? In some cases 25 years or more.


PURCHASED           ACQ NUMBER          DESCRIPTION
29 February 1992          292.AA.10                  Statue of Zeus Enthroned

On October 27, 2018 a first century BCE, marble statue of Zeus, seated on his throne, finally moved to its permanent home, the Archaeological Museum of the Phlegrean Fields in the Castello Aragonese di Baia.  

Like its own lost version of Atlantis, the Campi Flegrei, as the area is known to Italians, is a large, highly active volcanic region, nestled in the northern portion of the Gulf of Naples.  Declared a regional park in 2003, and lying mostly underwater, the archaeological site of Baia, named aptly for its thermal waters, guards treasures from Rome's ancient past, some of which have been transferred to the Archaeological Museum for land lovers to see and appreciate.

A site of profound and priceless beauty, the submerged archaeological park preserves an astounding collection of Roman statues, frozen in liquid time. along with ancient villas, public baths, private grottos and even entire city streets. All of which serve as testimony to the charm of the now submerged city where many of Rome's elite and influential patricians once spent their time relaxing. 

But back to the statue of Zeus and its purchase

Guided by its then antiquities curator, Dr. Marion True, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles purchased the 75-cm-high "Zeus Enthroned" from Lawrence and Barbara Fleischman in 1992.  The Fleischman's in turn had purchased the statue of the Greek god five years earlier in 1987 from British antiquities dealer Robin Symes. 

Prominent philanthropists of the Metropolitan and other noteworthy American museums, True met the Fleischmans in the late eighties.  At the time, the couple were actively being courted by museums who hoped to purchase all or parts of their substantial personal collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities.  As wealthy collectors, they couple had purchased antiquities from both Robin Symes and Giacomo Medici, art dealers readers of this blog should be familiar with.

But the Fleischman's relationship with True mixed business with pleasure and the Getty curator was known to have visited the couple in their East Side New York duplex, which was filled with classical art purchased through these now-disgraced antiquities dealers.  By 1996, True's relationship with the philanthropists was such that Lawrence Fleischman provided a loan towards True's vacation home on the Greek island of Paros.  Conveniently, the loan was arranged days after the Fleischmans finalized their acquisition agreement with the Getty Museum.  In total the museum purchased more than three hundred objects from the couple's collection.  Valued at sixty million dollars, the Getty paid the Fleischmans twenty million and the philanthropists made a tax-deductible donation worth another 40 million, to conclude the deal.

In 2005, Italian Public Prosecutor Paolo Giorgio Ferri brought formal criminal charges against True. The gist of the Italian claims were that the curator  “conspired with Hecht and Medici to supply the Getty with artifacts that had been illegally unearthed and exported from Italy, and that she used the Fleischmans’ collection to ‘launder’ antiquities, giving them a clean bill of provenience before bringing them to the museum”. As the Italian court case got into full swing, True resigned over the Paros home loan and shortly after, in 2006, Barbara Fleischman resigned as a trustee of the Getty Trust.

Over the years numerous Fleischman antiquities, tied to illlicit trafficking have been returned to Italy and coupled with the fact that the enthroned Zeus statue had no documentation of licit export, it became the work of the Italian authorities to prove where the object had come from and to tie the object's origins to Italian territory in order to make a viable claim for its restitution. 

According to a recently published book by Stefano Alessandrini, "Italian cultural diplomacy for the return of assets in exile," the statue's return to Italy in the summer of 2017 was thanks to a combined effort; the joint work of historic researchers, illicit trafficking investigators, judicial magistrates and cultural diplomacy advisors with Italy's cultural ministry.  

Alessandrini states that the request for restitution of a cultural property illicitly removed from the patrimony of a State doesn't constitute a hostile act towards the State to which the work is requested. In fact, Italy seeks to enforce not just the law concerning property, but the right of culture, regulated by numerous international conventions.


Zeus and his relationship with the Phlegrean Fields

Image Credit:
The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal
Volume 21, 1993
Italian researchers believed that the marble Zeus was once part of a collection of cult statues, likely displayed in a lararium, a sacred space designed to hold the images of guardian deities, believed in ancient times, to be the protectors of a villa and the family residing in it. 

From its overall condition, scholars were able to deduce that the object had likely spent a large portion of its lifetime, partially submerged on the seabed, laying on its side, as only half of the object seemed to have been marred by marine encrustations.

But to prove to the J. Paul Getty Museum that their Zeus came from Baia took a bit of random luck.

In December 2012 Italy's Guardia di Finanza stumbled upon a mable fragment from a clandestine excavation during an investigation in Bacoli (Naples).  In examining the piece, hoping to determine its original context, the Italians began to consider whether or not the piece of marble might have once been attached to the corner of the arm of the throne upon which Zeus was resting his laurels. Using open source photos, from the Getty Museum's own website, researchers were able to superimpose their looter fragment onto the edge of the photographed chair.

The result proved to be a compatible match. 

To solidify their visual hypothesis, scientific verification tests were performed in California on 6 March 2014 which determined that the marine encrustations present on the Italian fragment matched those also adhering to the Getty's statue in California. 

Image Credit:
ARCA Screenshot 
Getty Website
accessed 20 November 2018. 
From that point, it took another three years of cultural diplomacy before an agreement for restitution could be solidified between the Italian state and the US museum.  On June 13, 2017 Getty Museum Director Timothy Potts is quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying:

 "The fragment gave every indication that it was a part of the sculpture we had...It came from the general region of Naples, so it meant this object had come from there."

As a result of museum to State negotiations, the J. Paul Getty Museum formally turned over the Zeus statue to the Italian Consul General for Los Angeles, Antonio Verde, on 14 June 2017 in a restitution ceremony at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

25 years and sometimes longer

 Not long ago, the world's museum directors spent their days and careers primarily focused on the custodianship of their institution's art objects.  But to truly attone for the sins of the father, todays directors need to become more proactive global citizens and accept their global (and ethical) responsibilities for the errors of their predecessors.  

While museum and museum associations are becoming more aware of the importance of object provenance, to step up to the plate, their management must become more politically engaged, globally connected and skilled in the arts of arbitration and mediation as it applies to suspect objects like this one. Equally importantly, they must also stop the foot dragging when it comes to acknowledging and correcting the errors of past acquisition judgement, as an entrenched means of delaying the inevitable.

Image Credit: ANSA
Given the known problems with the numerous objects in the Getty collection which were accessioned through the Fleischman acquisition, the tug and pull for ownership of the Zeus statue, eventually settled through mutual (and lengthy) negotiation, should not have taken years to hammer out.

But if you want to see Zeus the next time you are in the Bay of Naples area, to celebrate this one success, he'll be waiting for you, on display at the castle, as part of the exhibition "The visible, the invisible and the sea".   His trip home was a long and complicated one, but at least he is not hurling lightening bolts for how long it took.


By:  Lynda Albertson

October 8, 2025

Wednesday, October 08, 2025 - ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, No comments

Caveat Emptor: What the Dancing Maenad Can Tell Us About the Market for Looted Art

Christie's 2019 Auction
In November 2019, ARCA published a blog post raising questions about a 5th-century BCE polychrome antefix depicting a dancing maenad, which had been consigned to a Christie’s auction and that I believed the piece warranted closer scrutiny. For those unfamiliar, an antefix is a decorative architectural element once placed along the eaves of ancient roofs to conceal the joints between tiles.

What drew my attention was the striking resemblance between the object at right and three other Etruscan antefixes, also portraying maenads, that had previously been repatriated to Italy after being identified as having been illegal excavated and removed from Italy.


The provenance of the previous, 2019-consigned, antefix up for auction at Christie's read:
Provenance:

In terms of its circulation history, that sparse entry left roughly 2,500 years unaccounted for as nothing prior to 1994 was specified.  Knowing a bit about the consignor's background, I knew, that before her death, Ingrid McAlpine had been married to the ancient art dealer Bruce McAlpine, and that prior to their divorce, both were listed as proprietors of McAlpine Ancient Art Limited in the United Kingdom.

The McAlpines’ names have surfaced in connection with other trafficked antiquities that passed through the legitimate art market. Among these is an Attic black-figured hydria which reached the McAlpines through Palladion Antike Kunst, a gallery operated by disgraced dealer Gianfranco Becchina. Their names also appear alongside the red flag names of Robin Symes and Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, in relation to the donation of a looted Apulian bell-krater, both objects of which were later restituted to Italy. 

In addition, former Judge Paolo Giorgio Ferri, the Italian judge who worked heavily on these looting cases, showed me a letter, seized by the Italian authorities during their investigations which was written by the staff of Bruce and Ingrid's McAlpine Ancient Art Gallery.  This letter, dated 8 July 1986, tied the couple to at least one transaction with Giacomo Medici and Christian Boursaud and referred obliquely to companies that the later convicted Rome dealer operated through third parties, fronts, or pseudonyms. 

Despite my suspicions I still didn't know where that Etruscan dancing maenad came from.  

Villa Giulia, 1937 Excavation
A few weeks into that investigation, and following a notification from the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, curators Leonardo Bochicchio and Daniele F. Maras of Italy’s Ministry of Culture identified the likely find spot of the disputed object: Campetti Nord. They were able to pinpoint the location precisely, as the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia already held another headless antefix of a dancing maenad, featuring the same polychrome details and stylistic traits.  The museum’s specimen had been uncovered during authorised excavations by the Italian Superintendency at the Etruscan sanctuary of Campetti Nord in the autumn of 1937 — a site previously worked over by tombaroli.

The sanctuary lies within the ancient urban area of Veio, also known as Veii, one of the major cities of Etruria and a formidable rival to early Rome. Its ruins rest quietly near the medieval village of Isola Farnese, about fifteen kilometers northwest of Italy's capital, amid the rolling hills and woodlands of what is now the Veio Regional Park.  For archaeologists, the city is a treasure of discovery, offering rare insight into the architecture, rituals, and daily life of the Etruscans on the frontier between the  Etruscan and Latin worlds.

After much finagling, the story of the first looted antefix was brought to light in an art crime documentary Lot 448, directed by Bella Monticelli which highlighted the objects lack of legitimate paperwork or export license and which exposed how difficult it is to identify and document an object with only a few days notice before an appraching sale.  Fortunately, with some help from Bulgari SpA, (who purchased the artefact at auction and donated it, through the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, to the Italian State) the 2019 auctioned dancing maenad joined her sister at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, reunited with other ancient artworks from the same archaeological context from which both figures originated.

Fast forward to a 2nd Christie's Antquities auction, scheduled for later this month and it seems we have a third headless lady dancer from Veio. 


The provenance for this third Etruscan antefix, equally headless, but less intact reads:  Elsa Bloch-Diener (1922-2012), Bern, 1975 (Antike Kunst, no. 113).

If you look carefully, by her feet you can make out the hoof of the Silenos this lady would have been dancing with.  

This detail is remarkably similar to the antefix in the form of a Maenad and Silenos Dancing which once graced the cover of the exhibition catalog A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleishman.  

After careful restoration that antefix was first seen on the market with Robert Hecht who sold it to the Hunt collection.  Next it was circulated via Sotheby's with that collection was liquidated and bought by Robin Symes, who immediately resold it to the Fleischmanns.  In1994 the couple exhibited the piece , along with their entire collection, at the J. Paul Getty Museum, before it was formally acquired by   the museum in 1996 (96.AD.33).  The piece was restituted to Italy after it was matched by Daniela Rizzo and Maurizio Pellegrino to a polaroid in the Giacomo Medici archive.  Like the one up for sale at Christie's now, both artefacts were broken along the lower half and when whole, depicted a Silenos dancing behind the Maenad.


Now let's look at the provenance the auction house has cited.

Elsa Bloch-Diener (1922–2012) was a Swiss art dealer who operated a gallery at Kramgasse 60 in the old town of Bern.  She is known to have collaborated with Ines Jucker (née Scherrer, 1922-2013), the scholar and sometimes ancient art dealer responsible for the exhibition catalogue Italy of the Etruscans, cited in the Christie’s lot description as an exhibition where this piece was on view to the public. 

Jucker not only authenticated works for Bloch-Diener but also curated the 1991 Etruscan exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem referenced in the Christie's sale.  Also contributing to that exhibition's catalogue were entries by Giovannangelo Camporeale, Fiorella Cottier-Angeli, George Ortiz, and Christoph Reusser, names that have, at times, prompted debate and concern within the field.

In May 2002, when Swiss and Italian authorities raided Gianfranco Becchina's Antike Kunst Palladion, as well as three of Becchina’s storage facilities in Basel, authorities seized documents which identified transactions between the Sicilian and Ines Jucker which documented that she purchased artefacts from this dealer and sold them onwards.

Along the same theme Jucker studied an Attic Red-Figured calyx krater signed by Syriskos (painter); donated by Lawrence Fleischman and his wife to the J. Paul Getty Museum which had been acquired from Robin Symes in 1988.  Pictured on Medici Polaroid it was restituted to Italy.   Likewise a Black-Figure Cup Fragment with the Capture of Silenus in the Tondo which Jucker sold to Dietrich von Bothmer was also returned to Italy.

In the Israel exhibition Jucker curated, which featured the antefix up for auction and identified it as coming from the ancient site of Veio, some four hundred Etruscan objects were presented, none of large format, some with an inscriptions.  Among them were small bronzes, ceramics, jewellery, terracottas (architectural, votive, and cinerary urns), and sculptural fragments in nenfro.  In total they represented all periods and regions of Etruscan art. 

The main nucleus of the Israel displayed ensemble came from the collection of the late Ivor and Flora Svarc, many of whose holdings would be donated to the Israel Museum.  Svarc's objects were complemented by pieces already in Israeli collections, along with loans from the collector-dealer Jonathan Rosen and other private collectors, mainly in Switzerland.  

As cited by Drs David Gill and Christopher Chippindale in Material Consequences of Contemporary Classical Collecting the vast majority of the artefacts exhibited during this exhibition were previously unpublished.  This made this public display of the items their first concretising stop towards having an art marketable pedigree. 

The fact that we know this object comes from the context of Veio, can also be found in the same catalogue as the restituted Getty atefix, A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleishman.


Page 197 refers specifically to the artefact currently up for auction:

A number of fragmentary examples of antefixes of this type, as well as of molds for producing them, have come to light at Civita Castellana (Falerii) (see Andrén; Sprenger/Bartoloni), finds which clearly prove their local manufacture. But the votive deposit of Campetti at Veii has yielded the head of a silenos of identical type and made of Veian clay (see Vagnetti 1971), which led P. J. Riis to suggest that this type of antefix was invented at Veii. The lower half of an antefix of this type with a provenance from Veii is in a private collection in Switzerland (see Jucker), and similar fragments have recently been excavated in Rome (see Cristo fani). 

With that in mind, it is necessary to return to the same question previously directed at Christie’s: 

On what evidentiary basis, supported by what verifiable documentation, did the auction house authorise the consignment of this artefact?  In the absence of any demonstrable chain of custody or export records, the decision to green-light its sale raises serious concerns regarding the robustness of the auction house’s internal due diligence procedures.


In this case, the question is not rhetorical but fundamental. Is Christie’s in possession of any concrete paperwork supporting the legitimacy of this Dancing Maenad’s appearance on the market, or was the absence of evidence simply overlooked given its publication in an exhibition, in the hope that the object’s passage through the auction process would escape closer scrutiny.


By:  Lynda Albertson

October 3, 2012

Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - ,,,, No comments

One Step up the Looting Pyramid

by Lynda Albertson, Chief Executive Officer, ARCA

To some individuals, the scandal surrounding the Met’s 1972 purchase of the Euphronios krater and similarly shady procurements by some US and European museums seems like old news.  For others, like Italy’s Soprintendente per I Beni Archaelogici dell’Etruria meridionale, Alfosina Russo Tegliente and the Villa Giulia’s scientific experts Daniela Rizzo and Marizio Pelligrini, the watershed accord signed in February 2006 between the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Italian government, which returned this spectacular vase to Italy, was just the tip of a very large iceberg.

Returned to Rome in 2008 after a protracted return-plus-loans agreement, the Euphronios krater, with its delicate images of the dying Lycian king, Sarpedon, leader of the Trojans' allies and offspring of the god Zeus and the mortal Laodamia, has become the poster-child example of bad museum acquisition practices.


I visited the Musei Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia on the opening day of their new exhibition, I Preditori dell’Arte e Il Patrimonio Ritrovato…le Storia del Recupero (The Predators of Art and Rediscovered Heritage - The History of Recovery), running in Rome from September 29th through December 15, 2012.

I didn’t come to see the Euphronios krater.   Near perfect in its restoration, it is housed in a discreetly simple glass case, approachable on four sides, located on the second floor of the villa in a section reserved geographically for artifacts from Cerveteri.

I didn’t come to see the Fifth-century BC Attic red-figure kylix, a cup also signed by Euphronios as potter and painted by Onesimos with scenes of the Trojan War.  This fragmented cup sits in its own glass case, alongside the krater.  It too was surrendered by a US museum -- the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1999.

I came to see the new exhibit, one that follows the “long and silent journey” to use the words of the curators, of not just these two objects but approximately ninety others on exhibition at the museum, which have been returned to Italy, due in a large part to the doggedly difficult work of Daniela Rizzo and Marizio Pelligrini, Villa Giulia’s scientific experts.  Their work and the work of the staff of the Soprintendente per I Beni Archaelogici dell’Etruria meridionale, Italy’s public prosecutors, and the Italian Carabinieri along with collaboration from the Swiss judiciary helped reconstruct the chain that created a buyer’s market for looting of archaeological sites, in Italy and elsewhere. This exhibition is the fruit of their labor and underscores the material and intellectual consequences of contemporary collecting.

Tracing the collection life of these objects, from tomborolo to trafficante (tomb raider to trafficker) the exhibit shows not only the route these objects took before arriving in some of the world’s finest museums but also examines some of the methods used by traffickers to launder looted antiquities through the world’s most important auction houses.   


Included in the exhibition is an Etruscan antefix in the form of a Maenad and Silenos dancing.  An anteflix is an upright ornament used by builders along the eaves of a tiled roof to conceal tile joints. This particular anteflex, pictured on a now famous Medici polaroid, was acquired by Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman through Robin Symes and then acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1996.

Once it even graced the cover of an exhibition catalog highlighting the Fleischman’s collection.  The presence of the anteflix in The Villa Giulia exhibit serves to illustrate how museums, private collectors and auction houses have allowed themselves to be links in the looting chain.

To many of the exhibit attendees in Rome, seeing this simple household decoration as part of this exhibition is equal parts joyous victory and painful reminder.  As I mentioned in the start of this article, having these objects come home is just the tip of the iceburg, or to use Daniela Rizzo’s words who spoke with the visitors about her work in this identification, “the first step of the Pyramid”.

When the Italian Carabinieri raided Giacomo Medici’s warehouse in the Geneva Freeport they recovered 3,800 objects and more than 4,000 photographs of objects that had previously passed through Medici’s hands. (Watson and Todeschini 2007, 19-24, 48-79, 363-83).  The recovered items in this exhibition represent only a small fraction of the objects looted by just one organization of traffickers.  Imagine how many more are out there.

Some museums, through cooperative agreements with Italy and or law enforcement organizations in their own countries, readily relinquish artifacts whose origins can be traced back to the looters through the documentation of the Medici and Becchina dossiers.  Others take more insistent prodding.

It wasn’t until June 20th of this year that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio issued a press release stating that an agreement had finally been made with the Toledo Museum of Art in conjunction with a Federal Verified Complaint in Forfeiture to return a 510 B.C. Etruscan black-figure kalpis attributed to the Micali painter or his workshop.  This despite being presented with a copy of an incriminating polaroid, seized from Medici during the 1995 raid showing the still mud-encrusted pot and another polaroid from a separate raid in Basel 2002 proving that  the kalpis had also passed through the hands of Gianfranco Becchina.

One more step up the pyramid.  One more long and necessary step.


Photos contributed by Soprintendente per I Beni Archaelogici dell’Etruria meridionale, Musei Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia

February 15, 2014

Saturday, February 15, 2014 - ,,, No comments

Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis will teach "Unravelling the Hidden Market of Illicit Antiquities: Lessons from Greece and Italy" for the 2014 ARCA Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection

Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis will return to Amelia this year to teach "Unravelling the Hidden Market of Illicit Antiquities: Lessons from Greece and Italy" from July 28-30 and August 4-6 in ARCA's Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection.

Dr. Tsirogiannis attended ARCA's International Art Crime Conference last year to accept the award for "Art Protection and Security" in recognition of his work of matching objects at auction with police-confiscated archives, leading to repatriations for Italy and Greece.

Christos, a Greek forensic archaeologist, studied archaeology and history of art in the University of Athens, then worked for the Greek Ministries of Culture and Justice from 1994 to 2008, excavating throughout Greece and recording antiquities in private hands. He voluntarily cooperated with the Greek police Art Squad on a daily basis (August 2004 - December 2008) and was a member of the Greek Task Force Team that repatriated looted, smuggled and stolen antiquities from the Getty Museum, the Shelby White/Leon Levy collection, the Jean-David Cahn AG galleries, and others.

Since 2007, Tsirogiannis has been identifying antiquities depicted in the confiscated Medici, Becchina and Symes-Michaelides archives with those in museums (e.g. the Michael Carlos Museum in Atlanta, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York), galleries (e.g. Cahn AG), auction houses (Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams), and private collections (e.g. those of Shelby White/Leon Levy, Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, George Ortiz). Notifying public prosecutor Dr. Paolo Giorgio Ferri and the Greek authorities has led to repatriations (e.g. from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome). He received his Ph.D. last October at the University of Cambridge, on the international illicit antiquities network viewed through the Robin Symes-Christos Michaelides archive.

What will be the focus in your course?
The trafficking of antiquities internationally, focusing on the last 50 years, and especially the developments in the illicit trade since 2005, using case studies throughout. We will start with a historical introduction, then survey the leading dealers of the international market. The central session of the course will consider the roles of auction houses, museums and galleries. Focusing on Greece, Italy, the UK and the USA, we will discuss the level of proof needed for a successful claim and repatriation, before we examine various strategies proposed for regulating the market in the future. Lectures will be combined with interactive discussion sessions.
Do you have a recommended reading list that students can read before the course?
CHIPPINDALE, CHRISTOPHER & DAVID W. J. GILL. 2000. Material consequences of contemporary classical collecting, American Journal of Archaeology 104:463-511. 
http://www.jstor.org/stable/507226
MEYER, KARL E. 1977. The Plundered Past. Atheneum (NY): Hamish Hamilton. 
O’KEEFE, PATRICK J. 1997. Trade in Antiquities: Reducing Destruction and Theft. London: Archetype Publications and UNESCO.
RENFREW, A. COLIN. 2006. Loot, legitimacy and ownership. London: Duckworth.
*WATSON, PETER & CECILIA TODESCHINI. 2007. The Medici conspiracy. New York (NY): Public Affairs.
Here's a link to a 2012 BBC interview with Christos Tsirogiannis.

The deadline to apply to the ARCA program in Umbria is March 1. You may send inquiries to education@artcrimeresearch.org.

February 4, 2025

Tuesday, February 04, 2025 - ,, No comments

At a Glacial Pace: Why does the return of stolen art take years?

The Oracle at Delphi, 1881, by Camillo Miola

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I've seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to you door
By The Beatles

Sometimes the road from diplomatic agreement to restitution or seizure to restitution is a long and windy road like the lyrics of a Beatles song.  And in the announcement and publication of victories, which flash across the news, the general public sees only the superficial details, carefully curated to neutralise all the hard fought passages that allowed "Object A" to be returned to "Country B".   

Such is the case with The Oracle at Delphi (1881) by Camillo Miola, a neoclassical painting depicting the ancient Greek sanctuary of Delphi, where the Pythia, a high priestess of Apollo, delivered prophecies. The artwork portrays a dramatic scene within the grand temple, with the Pythia seated on a tripod, enveloped in mystical vapors, as she channels divine messages. A group of supplicants, including warriors and noble figures, eagerly awaits her pronouncements, their expressions reflecting awe, anticipation, and reverence. 

On August 11, 2022, ahead of their agreed upon negotiations, The J. Paul Getty museum made a widespread public announcement that it would be returning a number of objects in their collection to Italy including:

Orpheus and the Sirens (inv. 76.AD.11) acquired in 1976 from Bank Leu in Zurich,

Colossal Head of a Divinity (inv. 72.AL.96) acquired in 1996 from scandalous UK art dealer Robin Symes,

an Etruscan bronze thymiaterion (inv. 96.AC.253) acquired in 1996 from the Fleischman collection, It was sold to the Fleischmans in 1987 by Italian art dealer Edoardo Almagià.  A while back New York Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, who heads the Manhattan Office's Antiquities Trafficking Unit was quoted in an interview with the Princeton Alumni Weekly, saying: 

“If Almagià is the first name on your provenance, it is stolen.” 

a Mold for Casting Pendants, (75.AA.35) about 2nd century CE, donated by collector Lawrence A. Fleischman and his wife;

and lastly, a rather fanciful oil painting entitled The Oracle at Delphi, 1881 by Camillo Miola (72.PA.32), a neoclassical painting depicting the ancient Greek sanctuary of Delphi, where the Pythia, a high priestess of Apollo, delivered prophecies.  

This artwork portrays a dramatic scene within the grand temple, with the Pythia seated on a tripod, enveloped in mystical vapours, as she channels divine messages. A group of supplicants, including warriors and noble figures, eagerly awaits her pronouncements, their expressions reflecting awe, anticipation, and reverence. Miola’s use of rich colours, classical architecture, and meticulous detail captures the spiritual intensity and grandeur of the sacred ritual, emphasising the oracle’s central role in guiding ancient Greek society.

In their announcement they stated that the impetus for the return of the Sculptural Group of a Seated Poet (Orpheus) and two Sirens is evidence presented to them of their looting.  Their announcement fails to make mention of the fact that the artefacts had been seized earlier pursuant to a court order and no other details were presented for the remaining pieces going home but as we know by the names of the dealers that circulated them, they propensity for being problematic was high. 

But what about the Miola painting nothing was stated as to why this artwork was coming home?

While Orpheus and his two friends came home in 2022, its taken two years and five months after the Getty's initial and somewhat lacking announcement, for Camillo Miola's painting to arrive back in Naples, along with the oil painting Portrait of Vittorio Emanuele III, 1902 by Achille Talarico.  

The paintings having just arrived and been presented at Palazzo Matteotti in Naples, by Gaetano Manfredi the Mayor of Naples and Gen. Div. Francesco Gargaro, the Commander of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.  

But when and how long ago did this particular painting's story begin? And why is at that so many of these restitution announcements, which concretise agreements between museum parties and source country authorities such as the Carabinieri, or Italy or the USA's prosecutorial bodies, omit historical facts when it is exactly these historical facts which served as the evidence needed to persuade museums, or courts of justice that these artworks need to come home. 

We know that Miola's painting depicting Pythia was stolen from the San Lorenzo Institute of Aversa between 1943 and 1946.  But not much has been written in public records which elaborates upon its exit from Italy.  We know only that the painting left Italy at some point after the close of World War II arriving to America.  It was then consigned to Parke-Bernet in New York as coming from "a Private Collection", and sold on 24 February 1972 to Ira Spanierman, who operated the eponymous Spanierman Gallery (1961-2014).   He in turn sold it to the J. Paul Getty that same year.

According to the museum's accession record the provenance for this painting is:

By 1880 — Pinacoteca Provinciale (Naples, Italy)
until 1972 — Private Collection [sold, Parke-Bernet, New York, February 24, 1972, lot 273, to Ira Spanierman.]
since 1972 — Ira Spanierman (New York), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1972. 

Open source records show us that following a meeting of Italy's Committee for the Recovery and Restitution of Cultural Heritage, chaired by Minister Alberto Bonisoli Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage formally asked the J. Getty Museum on 9 May 2019 to consider the country's claim for the Victorious Youth bronze (no progress there yet) and to also evaluate the provenance of four objects in the museum's collections that were also stolen or exported without permission from Italy. 

Those four objects were:  

Camillo Miola "The Oracle of Delphi" stolen from the San Lorenzo Institute in Aversa between 1943 and 1946; 

two marble lions from the Roman era that were in the Palazzo Spaventa in Preturo (Aquila) and 

a Mosaic with Medusa stolen from the National Roman Museum. 

This request was signed by the secretary general Panebianco and emphasised Italy's ministry's full willingness to keep alive the consolidated relations with the Getty,  blah blah blah, and considers cultural diplomacy a priority, blah blah blah, and stated that the writers would like to identify a suitable date for a meeting between the two parties to further discuss the Italian request for the restitution of The Victorious Youth, or the Athlete of Fano, the bronze statue that was fished out in 1964 in the waters of Fano in the Marche region and was subsequently illegally exported from Italy as determined by Italy's courts.

From the museum's side, the Getty replied that it would start their verification with the technical staff and that a response will be sent "as soon as possible", which, given the presentation of Miola's painting back in Italy has happened five and a half years later, and two years after the museum acknowledged that they were in agreement to relinquish the artwork, one has to marvel at the almost glacial pace of restitutions. 

And while ARCA is more than pleased that these artworks have actually come home through mutually beneficial agreements between museums and ministries and law enforcement officers and art researchers doing diligent work, we do wish there was a little more information than just somber, happy, formal, tight-lipped presentations stating these works are once again home. 

Transparency in restitution agreements between museums and source countries is crucial for ensuring accountability and ethical stewardship of cultural heritage. Not to mention it also builds public trust.  

Too often, repatriation deals are negotiated behind closed doors, with mutually agreed upon formal announcements which are carefully worded and often vague, leaving out key details about the provenance research, legal considerations, and the conditions of return.  All facts which could help us learn why one object makes it home and another doesn't. Or why certain objects are returned home quickly, while others take years after a restitution is announced, delaying justice for affected communities. 

This lack of openness can fuel skepticism, and invites speculation and negative interpretation, where the length of delays from announcement to homecoming can be misinterpreted foot dragging on the museum's part.    

By committing to clear, public disclosure of restitution decisions—detailing the origins of looted works, the justification for their return, the collaborative efforts between museum staff and source nations, and the complex mechanisms that often delay repatriation—museums can demonstrate a genuine commitment to ethical responsibility and cooperation. Transparency in these processes not only fosters trust but also ensures that institutions are seen as proactive stewards of cultural heritage rather than merely responding to external pressure.

Greater transparency would not only strengthen international cooperation—providing provenance researchers with valuable roadmaps from successful restitution cases—but also help rebuild public trust in museums as institutions committed to rightful ownership and historical justice. Rather than treating returns as mere footnotes with minimal explanation, museums should fully articulate the reasons behind their decisions, reinforcing their role as ethical stewards of cultural heritage.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)