Aphrodite made surreptitious journey to Getty museum, court told
Italian prosecutors at the trial of former Getty museum curator Marion Truepainstakingly traced the voyage of an ancient statue of Aphrodite from the time it was illegally excavated until it ended up in the museum.
Former police officer Fausto Guarnieri outlined the steps in his testimony on Wednesday at the trial in Rome of True and art dealer Robert Hecht for trafficking in looted artifacts.
The statue, dating from the 5th century BC, came from a secret dig at Morgantina, a Greek settlement in what is now Sicily.
Guarnieri said he heard about illegal excavations on the site in the 1980s.
Rival looters leaked information to police because statues were being stolen and sold for low prices, he said.
In 1986, an Italian sold the Aphrodite statue to a London-based art dealer for $400,000 US through a Swiss intermediary. The Italian claimed the statue had been in his family since 1939, a claim prosecutor Paolo Ferri said was bogus.
Sold in pieces
In 1939, Italy passed a law making all antiquities found in the country property of the state.
Ferri also produced documents that showed the statue was sold in pieces at different stages, a technique smugglers use to get more money out of buyers.
The statue was moved from Switzerland to London to Los Angeles and the Getty Museum.
The Getty paid $18 million US for the statue in 1988.
At the time, the Los Angeles museum wrote to Italian authorities, inquiring if the statue had been stolen.
Guarnieri testified that Italy did not link the statue to the illegal dig at Morgantina because there was no record of it.
Denied wrongdoing
However, a 1997 analysis of the statue showed it was made of the same stone as fragments found at Morgantina.
True and Getty officials have denied wrongdoing in the case. The statue, still on display in the Getty Villa, is the focus of a dispute over ownership between the museum and Italy, which wants it returned.
Lawyers for True have always maintained that their client acquired the work in good faith.
Defence lawyer Francesco Isolabella stressed that the Getty had made inquiries on the artifact before buying it and made it available for the 1997 analysis.
But the Italian authorities didn't act for more than 10 years, she said.
"From (1988 to 1997) they didn't do anythingâ¦. They didn't ask for the Venus back, they never asked questions on its origin."
True and Hecht are scheduled to take the stand on Nov. 10, when the case resumes in Rome.