Getty Museum To Return Prized Statues To Italy’s Museum Of Rescued Art

While Rome boasts some of the world’s most iconic museums, there’s one that’s unlike the others: the Museum of Rescued Art.

Opened in June this year, the location doesn’t house typical artworks, but instead showcases returned relics that were once stolen and trafficked to the United States.

Soon adding to the museum’s collection are artifacts from the J Paul Getty Museum, which will be returning three ancient terracotta sculptures and other art pieces to Italy after it was revealed that the objects were illegally acquired. 

According to Artnet News, the three prized statues were believed to have been crafted between 350 BCE and 300 BCE, and depict the poet Orpheus together with a pair of standing sirens. 

The works are thought to trace back to the Puglia region of southern Italy, and have since been removed from display at the Los Angeles museum in preparation for its return to Rome next month. 

As per the New York Times, it appears the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit had been alerted to the provenance of Orpheus and the Sirens by alleged smuggler Gianfranco Becchina, with the sculptures seized back in April. 

In total, the three statues are estimated to be worth an astonishing US$8 million. 

Additionally, Getty and independent scholars dug deeper into the museum’s archives, identifying another four artworks—none of which were on display in recent years—that will also be returned to Italy. 

These works include a marble head and stone mold from the second century AD, an 1881 Camillo Miola oil painting, and a fourth-century BCE Etruscan bronze incense burner. 

Upon reaching Rome, Orpheus and the Sirens will go on temporary display at the Museum of Rescued Art, before being relocated to the city of Taranto in Puglia at a later date.

[via Artnet News and J Paul Getty Museum, images via J Paul Getty Museum]