Getty Sends Looted Art Home

Italy wins decades-long fight over illegally purchased antiquities
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 2, 2007 4:49 AM CDT
Getty Sends Looted Art Home
Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli shows to journalists a document from the Italian Culture Ministry displaying the marble statue of Tyche one of the allegedly looted ancient treasures kept at the J. Paul Getty Museum during a press conference at Palazzo Massimo museum in Rome, in this Wednesday,...   (Associated Press)

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles will return to Italy 40 works of art, including some of the finest in the museum's collection, following a decades-long legal battle. The museum has agreed to give up dozens of  masterpieces that Italy claims were looted, including its signature 5th-century marble Aphrodite, the LA Times reports.

In exchange for the Getty's decision to return the antiquities, the Italian cultural ministry has promised long-term loans to fill gaps in the collection. A Getty curator remains on trial in Italy for allegedly purchasing ancient Greek and Roman art of illegal provenance. (More art stories.)

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