Italy has every right to confiscate and demand the return of the Greek bronze statue of the Victorious Athlete attributed to Lysippus which is currently in the museum of the Getty villa in Malibu, California. The European Court of Human Rights ruled this unanimously by rejecting the appeal presented by the Paul Getty Foundation for violation of property protection.
In its ruling, the Strasbourg Court therefore recognized the legitimacy of the action undertaken by the Italian authorities to recover the work of art which was found in the waters of the Adriatic, off the coast of the Marche, in 1964. And which, after several vicissitudes, it was purchased by the Getty foundations in 1977 and finally landed at the Malibu museum.
The judges, in particular, underlined that the protection of a country’s cultural and artistic heritage also represents a priority from a legal point of view. Furthermore, various international regulations establish the right to oppose the purchase, import and export illicit use of goods belonging to the cultural heritage of a nation.
The Getty foundation, the Court further underlines, behaved “negligently or not in good faith in purchasing the statue despite being aware of the requests made by the Italian State and the efforts undertaken for its recovery”. Hence the observation that the decision of the Italian judges to proceed with the confiscation of the disputed property “was proportionate to the objective of guaranteeing its restitution”.
The return of the Athlete of Fano “is an issue on which we have worked closely. Since I became minister, over 100 works have been returned from the USA and the same number from Great Britain: I also issued a circular in which we established that no they will make more loans to museums that have disputes with Italy” commented the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano.
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– 2024-05-04 22:30:20
