Digital Editions
Newsletters
Subscribe
Digital Editions
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Antiquities
news

Archaeologist calls for repatriation of Roman fresco in Getty collection that came from known antiquities traffickers

Research published by forensic archaeologist Christos Tsirogiannis suggests the brilliant fresco fragment may have been illegally excavated near Pompeii

Benjamin Sutton
23 March 2022
Share
Unknown artist, Fresco Fragment: Woman on a Balcony, 10BC-AD14 
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California, Gift of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman

Unknown artist, Fresco Fragment: Woman on a Balcony, 10BC-AD14
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California, Gift of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman

A fresco fragment in the collection of Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum was previously in the inventory of a dealer known to traffic in stolen artefacts and should be returned to Italy, according to findings by forensic archaeologist Christos Tsirogiannis.

The Denmark-based researcher discovered evidence, first made public in an article he published in the Journal of Art Crime in 2019, that the colourful mural fragment—in which a female figure in a tunic stands on a balcony sipping from a cup and balancing a jug on the railing—appears in a photograph from the archive of Robert Hecht, a dealer who faced accusations of selling stolen antiquities. The photograph was among materials police seized from Hecht during a 2001 raid in Paris. He died in 2012.

The mosaic fragment, which is currently on view at the Getty Villa, the institution’s outpost in Pacific Palisades, entered the Getty’s collection in 1996 via a donation from the collectors Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman. Information on the Getty’s digital collection listing for the object dates it to between 10BC-AD14, noting that it is in keeping with the second style of Roman wall painting, which flourished in the first century.

The collection entry, which includes Tsirogiannis’s article in its bibliography, lists as the only provenance prior to the Fleischmans the gallery of Swiss dealer Fritz Buerki, from which they bought the object in 1987. Buerki was a close associate of Hecht’s whose activities came under scrutiny multiple times beginning in the 1970s. Buerki and Hecht’s dealings were examined during the decades-long investigation into the origins of the Euphronios krater, which the Metropolitan Museum ultimately repatriated to Italy more than 35 years after its acquisition. It was during a Carabinieri raid of Hecht’s Paris apartment as part of that investigation that the photograph of the fresco fragment cited in Tsirogiannis’s article was seized.

Hecht was indicted in Italy in 2005, along with former Getty antiquities curator Marion True, for allegedly conspiring to traffic in illegal antiquities. Their dramatic trial ended without judgment in 2010.

As Tsirogiannis’s article notes, the Getty has already repatriated one object from the Fleischman gift that the couple had acquired from Buerki, another fresco that depicted a mask of Hercules. That artefact was found to have been illegally excavated from a villa near Vesuvius and the archaeological site of Pompeii. Tsirogiannis suspects the “Woman on a Balcony” fragment may also have come from Pompeii and has shaed his findings with the New York District Attorney’s Office.

The photographic evidence seized from Hecht’s apartment, Tsirogiannis wrote in his article, “combined with revelation of the involvement of the most notorious antiquities dealer and the repetition of a pattern that he used with his accomplices makes clear the real status of this artefact”.

As press time, the Getty had not responded to a request for comment. In a statement given to The Guardian, a spokesperson for the institution said, "Getty continually researches the background and provenance of items within its collection and considers new evidence when it is presented. We have a longstanding policy of returning objects to their country of origin or discovery when the research indicates it is warranted."

AntiquitiesAntiquities trafficking J. Paul Getty Museum
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Instagram
Bluesky
LinkedIn
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
© The Art Newspaper

Related content

Repatriationnews
25 April 2024

Getty Museum restitutes ancient bronze head to Turkey

More than a decade after Turkey asked for it back, the sculpture will finally be returned

Elena Goukassian
Marion Truearchive
1 December 2005

Ex-Getty antiquities curator appears in Italian court

Marion True made a surprise appearance on the first day of the trial

Martha Lufkin
J. Paul Getty Museumnews
3 May 2024

European court rules Italy can pursue restitution of Getty Museum’s prized Greek bronze

“Victorious Youth”, which was found off the Adriatic coast by Italian fishermen in 1964, has been the subject of an international legal feud for decades

Benjamin Sutton
Getty Museumarchive
1 March 1999

Getty returns three stolen works to Italy

Curator voluntarily collaborates with Italy in accordance with museum’s policy

Donald Lee