Madrid: Response from Spain

I see that there there is a response to Fabio Isman's report on the 22 antiquities in Madrid that appear to be connected with the Medici and Becchina Dossiers (José Pérez-Guerra, "Expolio de patrimonios: La Colección Várez Fisa, adquirida en 1999 para el MAN, en el punto de mira", infoenpunto.es July 7, 2010 ). Pérez-Guerra claims that the collector, José Luis Várez Fisa, purchased on the open market ("mercado abierto"). There is a call for a joint Italian-Spanish investigation to decide what should be done. It is suggested that experts in international law be included. However, it should be noted that the 120 or so antiquities returned from North American public and private collections to Italy were not the result of legal action (though I suspect lawyers were consulted).

It would be better for common sense to prevail and for the Spanish to negotiate a suitable exchange. This would avoid the curatorial staff in Madrid having to answer searching questions about their lack of due diligence over the acquisition especially as it was made after the revaltions relating to the Geneva raids.

Image
Attic black-figured amphora from the Medici Dossier.

Comments

DR.KWAME OPOKU said…

Spain has been shown to have bought objects that informed persons, including those working in the National Archaeological Museum, should have known were looted objects. They should do the right thing by seeking a quick deal with Italy to return the bulk of the objects. One can see the interest in turning the whole matter into a legal dispute which may linger on for years. Buying artefacts from “open market” (whatever that may mean in this context) is not sufficient ground for believing the objects were legitimately acquired. Recent cases should have caused Spanish officials to exercise more diligence in finding out the history of the objects.
Kwame Opoku

15 July 2010 at 20:35

Marble bull's head from the temple of Eshmun

Excavations at the temple of Eshmun in Lebanon recovered a marble bull's head. It is now suggested that it was this head, apparently first published in 1967, that was placed on loan to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (Tom Mashberg, "Met Museum Turns Over Another Relic With Disputed Past to Prosecutors", New York Times August 1, 2017 ). The head is reported to have been handed over to the Manhattan district attorney after a request was received from the Lebanese authorities.

It is suggested that the head may have been looted from an archaeological storage area at Byblos in the 1980s during the Lebanese civil war. Mashberg has rehearsed the recent collecting history:
The owners of the bull’s head, Lynda and William Beierwaltes of Colorado, say they have clear title to the item and have sued Manhattan prosecutors for its return. The Beierwaltes bought the head from a dealer in London in 1996 for more than $1 million and then sold it to another collector, Michael …

Mithras relief from Tor Cervara

A fragmentary relief of Mithras was discovered in 1964 at Tor Cervara on the outskirts of Rome. It was acquired by the Museo Nazionale Romano.

A further fragment of the relief was acquired by the Badisches Landesmueum in Kalrsruhe in 1976. The source was an unstated Swiss dealer. This fragment has been reunited with the rest of the relief [press release].

Today a further fragment of the relief was reunited with the other pieces. This had been recovered during a raid in Sardinia.

The Toledo skyphos and a Swiss private collection

The Attic red-figured skyphos attributed to the Kleophon painter in the Toledo Museum of Art (inv. 1982.88) is now coming under further scrutiny following the research of Dr Christos Tsirogiannis. The skyphos shows Hephaistos returning to Olympos.

Tsirogiannis has identified what appears to be this skyphos in five photographs in the Medici Dossier. The museum acknowledged that the skyphos had resided in a 'private Swiss collection'. Tsirogiannis suggests that this is probably a reference to Medici.

Enquiries to the museum by Tsirogiannis elicited the information that the skyphos had been acquired from Nicholas Koutoulakis (although that information does not appear on the museum's online catalogue).

The curatorial team at the Toledo Museum of Art will, no doubt, be contacting the Italian authorities to discuss the future residence of the skyphos.

For further discussion of the Toledo Museum of Art on LM see here.

Reference
Tsirogiannis, C. 2017. "Nekyia: Museum ethics an…