New Returns to Italy Announced: Some Linked to Edoardo Almagià

Source: Manhattan DA

It was announced today that 142 antiquities will be returning to Italy (Press Release, "D.A. Bragg Returns 142 Antiquities Valued at Nearly $14 Million to the People of Italy", July 20, 2022). The returns consisted of 

"60 were recovered from Royal-Athena Galleries, 48 were recovered from STEINHARDT, and an additional 34 were seized pursuant to other ongoing investigations".

The Steinhardt material included:

Among the items being repatriated today is the Ercolano Fresco, which was seized as part of the investigation into STEINHARDT. Depicting an infant Hercules strangling a snake, the piece dates to 50 C.E. and was looted in 1995 from a villa in Herculaneum, an archaeological site that was buried for millennia under volcanic ash from the fiery eruption of Mount Vesuvius. STEINHARDT purchased the Ercolano in 1995 for $650,000 with no verifiable prior provenance. It is currently valued at $1,000,000.

Other items identified include:

Three fresco paintings dating to the 4th century B.C.E. from Paestum, an ancient Greek city located in southern Italy, which were seized pursuant to an ongoing investigation. These paintings depict scenes of mourning women, and were hacked from the wall of a tomb by looters.

An Archaic pithos (storage jar) dating back to 700 B.C.E. that was seized pursuant to an ongoing investigation into Edoardo ALMAGIÀ, an Italian native and former New York resident.

The press release also acknowledges the following museums and a single gallery:

Indiana University’s Eskenazi Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts-Boston, Royal-Athena Galleries, and the Toledo Museum of Art

One wonders if the Indiana material is linked to Almagià. 

The Boston material includes 9 pots apparently derived from Crustumerium in Latium that was acquired in 1995:

Probably about 1993/1994, illicitly excavated from Crustumerium, Italy and sold to Edoardo Almagià, New York; 1995, sold by Almagià to Jonathan Kagan and Sallie Fried, New York; 1995, year-end gift of Jonathan Kagan and Sallie Fried to the MFA (Accession Date: January 24, 1996); December 16, 2021, deaccessioned by the MFA for transfer to the New York County District Attorney and return to the Republic of Italy.

So far Boston is the only museum that appears to have provided full information.

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Almagià and Indiana

Apulian trozella
IUAM inv. UI 86-48-1
Source: IUAM

In June 2010 it was reported that the Indiana University Art Museum (IUAM) contained material that had been derived from Edoardo Almagià. Earlier this month Chasing Aphrodite published images of the two pieces reported to be derived from this source. Both pieces, a South Italian black-glossed stemless cup and an Apulian trozella, were acquired in 1986 (inv. UI 86-48-1, -2).

IUAM has a stated mission:

The IU Art Museum’s mission is to preserve, exhibit, collect, research, publish, and interpret original works of art to advance the academic goals of Indiana University and to enrich the cultural lives and spiritual well-being of society.

Such a statement would suggest that there would be a desire to publish the full collecting histories of both the pieces. Retention of such information would presumably go against the academic goals of Indiana University (and indeed any university museum).

The IUAM's director is a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD). The AAMD guidelines on antiquities do not allow a passive response when the museum's attention is drawn to concerns. The AAMD would expect the museum to contact the Italian authorities to resolve the issue.

Has IUAM contacted the Italian authorities? Will IUAM publish the full collecting histories?

I note that 1986 was the year that the J. Paul Getty Museum acquired an Attic cup from Almagià.

Almagià: update

Chasing Aphrodite has discussed further objects links to Edoardo Almagià. This includes material in San Antonio and Indiana. There is also a discussion of material in Boston that I have discussed elsewhere.

There is also a note on the continued "stonewalling" by Princeton.