A European court on Thursday ruled J. Italy’s right to seize a priceless Greek statue from the Paul Getty Museum upheld in CaliforniaRuling that Italy was right to attempt to reclaim an important part of its cultural heritage and rejected the museum’s appeal.
The European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR, determined that Italy’s years-long efforts to reclaim the “Victorious Youth” statue from the Getty were not disproportionate.
Getty had appealed a 2018 Italian High Court ruling that confirmed the seizure order, claiming his rights had been violated by Italy’s campaign to get the statue back.
The “Victorious Youth”, a life-size bronze dating from 300 BC to 100 BC, is one of the highlights of the Getty collection.
An Italian court in Pesaro ordered it seized and returned in 2010, at the height of Italy’s campaign to recover antiquities looted from its territory and sold to museums and private collectors around the world.
Getty has long defended its rights to the statue, saying Italy has no claim to it.
Reporter Suki Chung visits J.J. in Los Angeles on July 27, 2015. Paul Getty photographed a statue called “Statue of a Victorious Youth, 300-100 BC” in the museum. A European court upheld Italy’s right to seize a prized Greek… J in California The statue is from the Paul Getty Museum, after the museum’s appeal was rejected on Thursday. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
Among other things, the Getty had argued that the statue was of Greek origin, was found in international waters and had never been part of Italy’s cultural heritage. It cites a 1968 Court of Cassation decision in which no evidence was found that the statue was from Italy.
The bronze, which was retrieved from the sea by Italian fishermen in 1964, was purchased by the Getty in 1977 for $4 million and has been displayed at the Getty ever since.
Thursday’s ruling by the Strasbourg, France-based ECHR was a chamber ruling. Both sides now have three months to ask that the case be heard in the Grand Chamber of the court for a final decision.
There was no immediate comment from the Getty and its lawyers referred comment to the museum.
Getty had appealed to the ECHR, arguing, among other things, that Italy’s 2010 confiscation order was a violation of his right to enjoy his property and that he would be deprived of that right if US authorities carried out the seizure.
However, the ECHR ruled that in favor of Italy and strongly affirmed the right of Italy to protect its cultural heritage, especially from illegal export.
“The Court further held that, in particular, due to the negligence or bad faith of the Getty Trust in purchasing the statue despite being aware of the claims of the Italian State and their efforts to recover it, the seizure order was disproportionate to the objective of the object. To ensure the return of what was part of Italy’s cultural heritage,” the summary of the decision said.
This statue, nicknamed the “Getty Bronze”, is a signed item for the museum. The statue of the young athlete raising his right hand with an olive wreath crown around his head, about 5 feet (1.52 m) high, is one of the few life-size Greek bronzes to survive.
Although the artist is unknown, some scholars believe it was created by Lysippos, Alexander the Great’s personal sculptor.
It is believed that after Greece was conquered by the Romans the bronze sank along with the ship that was carrying it to Italy. After being found in the nets of Italian fishermen stranded in international waters in 1964, it was reportedly buried in an Italian cabbage patch and hidden in a priest’s bathtub before being taken out of Italy.
The Italian government says it was brought into Italy and then exported illegally, making the illegal export the basis for its seizure order.
Italy has successfully reclaimed thousands of artworks from museums, collections and private owners around the world that it says were illegally looted or stolen from the country, and recently A museum has been opened to keep the remains until they can be returned to the areas from which they were looted.
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The most important work so far that Italy has successfully brought back is the Euphronios Krater, one of the finest ancient Greek vases in existence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which had purchased it for $1 million in 1972 from an art dealer who was later accused of receiving looted artworks, returned it to Italy in 2008.
In 2007, the Getty agreed to return 40 ancient treasures in exchange for a long-term loan of other artifacts, without admitting any wrongdoing. Similar deals have been done with other museums,
Under the 2007 settlement, both parties agreed to postpone further discussion of “Victorious Youth” until the court case was decided.
