Court Orders Statue to Be Seized From Getty Museum

(Feb. 12) -- The J. Paul Getty Museum says it will "vigorously defend" its right to hold on to an ancient Greek statue that an Italian court ruled should be seized and returned to Italy.

The "Victorious Youth" bronze statue, better known as the Getty Bronze, was unexpectedly dredged from the sea in 1964 by a fishing trawler from Fano, Italy, a few miles south of Pesaro, where the court ruling was made Thursday.

The life-size statue, probably looted by the Romans, dates from the second or third century B.C. and is widely regarded as one of the finest Greek originals to have survived. The Italians claim it was smuggled out of Italy without the proper export papers, but the Getty says it bought the statue for $4 million through legal channels in 1977.

The Los Angeles museum also says Italy has no claim to the statue, which is a highlight of its collection, and called the court's order "flawed both procedurally and substantively" in a statement.

The Getty noted that a similar case involving the statue was thrown out in 2007 when a judge ruled that the statute of limitations had run out and that the Getty "was to be considered a good-faith owner."

The Getty said, "In fact, no Italian court has ever found any person guilty of any criminal activity in connection with the export or sale of the statue."

But the attorney for the Italian government, Maurizio Fiorilli, says Italy will ask the U.S. Justice Department to seize the statue and is calling on the Getty to resume negotiations.

"The Getty wasn't on trial," Fiorilli told The Associated Press. "It is just the owner of something that was determined to be Italian. The piece is Italian, and the Getty should return it."

The statue is believed to have sunk with the ship that was taking it to Italy after the Romans conquered Greece.

If Washington does not respond to Italy's demands, the attorney said, he will take the case to a U.S. court.

In 2007, without admitting any wrongdoing, the Getty agreed to return 40 ancient treasures to Italy in return for long-term loans of other artifacts. At that time, discussion about "Victorious Youth" was put aside.

Italy has long claimed that many of its ancient treasures were stolen and has successfully pressed for their return. In 2008 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York returned an ancient vase that it bought for $1 million from an art dealer in 1972.

A similar case erupted this week between the U.K. and Iran, which demanded that Britain live up to its promise to loan it an artifact known as the Cyrus Cylinder, a Babylonian treasure about 2,500 years old. After delaying its decision to send the artifact to Tehran in January, Britain now says it will deliver the artifact in July.