Italy Shows Off Looted Artifacts Seized by Police
ROME—An ancient mosaic of a dark-haired boy and a fresco from Pompeii were among more than 400 looted archaeological treasures Italian police put on show on Tuesday that had been recovered during a three-year hunt across Europe.
The artifacts, including delicate Etruscan goblets and large Greek vases, were illegally dug up and spirited out of Italy decades ago, many of them assumed to be lost forever.
Some of the most precious antiquities, including the fragmented fresco, were found at an elegant Paris mansion owned by a French publishing magnate, whose name was not disclosed. The Italian authorities said they had pressed charges against 31 people—including the publisher.
The other artifacts, most of them illegally excavated in the provinces of Tuscany and Lazio, were traced to Milan, Geneva and Brussels.
"These artifacts are of inestimable value," said Vito Augelli of Italy's Guardia di Finanza financial police force, which coordinated the investigation and showed reporters the antiquities—soon to go on display in museums.
"These are all objects that had been excavated illegally from underground tombs and taken out of the country," he said.
Investigators identified the colourful Pompeiian fresco as perhaps the most prized object. Probably a 1st century A.D. work, the fragments show gardens, fountains and parts of a villa that was once home to Poppea Sabina, the wife of Emperor Nero.
Other significant finds included a virtually intact mosaic showing a young boy with cropped black hair and large black eyes, and a rare Kalpis—a Greek vase used for holding oil or water—featuring delicate figures.
An assortment of jugs, saucers, chalices and vases bearing figures in red, beige and black completed the rich collection.
Italy has carried out a sustained drive to bring home artifacts dug up by tomb raiders and sold abroad to museums or ignorant or unscrupulous collectors.
Last month it celebrated the return of a prized 2,500-year-old vase that it says was looted and sold illegally to New York's Metropolitan Museum more than 30 years ago.
It also put on display in Rome nearly 70 other ancient artifacts that had been looted and sold to galleries abroad.
Many came from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and were returned after the Italian authorities struck a deal with the museum.
The artifacts, including delicate Etruscan goblets and large Greek vases, were illegally dug up and spirited out of Italy decades ago, many of them assumed to be lost forever.
Some of the most precious antiquities, including the fragmented fresco, were found at an elegant Paris mansion owned by a French publishing magnate, whose name was not disclosed. The Italian authorities said they had pressed charges against 31 people—including the publisher.
The other artifacts, most of them illegally excavated in the provinces of Tuscany and Lazio, were traced to Milan, Geneva and Brussels.
"These artifacts are of inestimable value," said Vito Augelli of Italy's Guardia di Finanza financial police force, which coordinated the investigation and showed reporters the antiquities—soon to go on display in museums.
"These are all objects that had been excavated illegally from underground tombs and taken out of the country," he said.
Investigators identified the colourful Pompeiian fresco as perhaps the most prized object. Probably a 1st century A.D. work, the fragments show gardens, fountains and parts of a villa that was once home to Poppea Sabina, the wife of Emperor Nero.
Other significant finds included a virtually intact mosaic showing a young boy with cropped black hair and large black eyes, and a rare Kalpis—a Greek vase used for holding oil or water—featuring delicate figures.
An assortment of jugs, saucers, chalices and vases bearing figures in red, beige and black completed the rich collection.
Italy has carried out a sustained drive to bring home artifacts dug up by tomb raiders and sold abroad to museums or ignorant or unscrupulous collectors.
Last month it celebrated the return of a prized 2,500-year-old vase that it says was looted and sold illegally to New York's Metropolitan Museum more than 30 years ago.
It also put on display in Rome nearly 70 other ancient artifacts that had been looted and sold to galleries abroad.
Many came from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and were returned after the Italian authorities struck a deal with the museum.
Art Hostage comments:
Dr No does not exist, so the mainstream media and so-called art recovery experts keep telling us.
Well the Art Hostage Billionaires Stolen Art Collecting Club is coming to fruition.
Back story below:
Alex Boyle the writer named Jean-Marie Messier below:
Jean-Marie Messier only had the Flink from the Gardner Heist and maybe the Manet ?
Vermeer's The Concert is reputed to be in Ireland, with all that entails.
The rest is held hostage by Prince Waleed, Sumner Redstone, Semion Mogilevich and a few people holding minor works.
Could there be some (public) good news for the Gardner Museum eighteen years after the nightmare began ?
Keep you posted
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