Fortuna Humana: the New York link

Source: MiBAC

It appears that one of the two statues returned to Italy by healthcare company Humana was purchased from a New York gallery in 1984. The identity of the company has now been confirmed by a source in Rome.

Although the gallery was reformed during the 1980s, subsequent to the sale to Humana, it remains in the same family.

The same New York gallery has been linked to material that has been returned to Italy.

Interestingly the gallery has been linked to the investigations into the Becchina dossier. While I was in New York earlier this year I viewed material from the same gallery (now in a public space) that also features in the Becchina receipts (and images).


What does this say about the ethics of the North American trade in recently surfaced antiquities? Will the Becchina investigation be even more damaging to the reputation of North American museums and dealers than the Medici Conspiracy?