Old Stuff
I have to admit, twenty-five hundred-year old statues leave me, well, cold. If Italy and Greece, or any other country, wants their stuff back, I say give it back. Never mind that erstwhile government officials in those countries were often on the take, allowing their pockets to be lined so they'd look the other way as their countries' national stuff was spirited off to London, Paris, New York, and more recently, Los Angeles. Now they make a big deal out of how they "wuz robbed," just the way Bobby Thomson robbed the Dodgers of the pennant in 1951. Which is to say, it's how the game was supposed to be played. One of the best jobs in the Old World was always being an inspector attached to the cultural ministry. Whenever some millionaire wanted to build himself a villa in, say, Frascati or Trevi, or Delphi, you trundled out to the site to make sure if any national goodies were being unearthed they wouldn't be pilfered. Uh huh. And when you found a veritable trove of ancient carved marble, you quietly went halvsies with the rich dude. Next best job was customs inspector, slapping your okay on that crate weighing a ton and a half marked "feather dusters." Anyway, the Getty still has plenty of good stuff worth looking at. They don't need a statue of a naked god with the genitals missing that nobody worships anymore. The god, that is, not the genitals. And by the way, I love this, the word for bribe in Italian is bustarella, translated "little envelope." Isn't that way nicer than what it's called in Mexico, a "bite?"
posted by John M Crowther @ 7:48 AM
7 Comments:
When I was lad growing up in the age of Holden Caulfield the prized possession of the Metropolitan Museum was a series of giant sculptures of Etruscan warriors, the work of two talented brother forgers, Poi and Alfonso Ricardi and three of their sons who started by faking shards of ancient ceramics and whole jars. When the demand increased for bigger and better stolen objects the Ricardis created a glazed statue that was over two meters tall. According to Wikipedia, “The sculpture was then pushed over, breaking it into pieces. The statue was then rebuilt using the broken fragments.” Three of these magnificnt fakes were first exhibited together in 1933 at the Met museum. A series of tests, twenty seven years later in 1960, indicated that the black glaze contained manganese, an ingredient that Etruscans never used. In 1961 the museum, much to their embarrassment and to my dismay, announced that the statues were forgeries and they were removed. To see them today go to:
www.mystudios.com/gallery/forgery/history/forgery-1.html
Of course the getty bought their pieces from someone. In my view Italy should get their stuff back when they return the horses atop St. Mark's to Turkey.roger
Roger, I have it on good authority that interns at the Getty are encouraged to go to Greece and hike out over the mountains through Albania to the coast with as much marble on their back as they can manage. [chortle]
The giant sculptures were original ricardi's and deserve attention as such. No Etruscan evr worked at that scale.Tony bailey's excellent book Responses to Rembrant gives us real food for thought about fake vs "real" especially the chapter pn The Polish Rider. roger
Favorite forgery story. Forty or so years ago there were so many fake Picassos on the market that the painter’s gallerista asked his clients to submit canvases with the promise that the painter himself would either to give the stamp of approval or declare them false. A goodly number were sent. Picasso took a look at one painting and instantly declared it false. The gallerista was surprised. ”But maitre,” he said, “I was in your studio the day you painted that.” Picasso replied, “Yes I know you were, but you have forgotten that Picasso often paints fakes.”
Great story, prof!
Roger, there's a breathtakingly beautiful piece of Etruscan sculpture unpretentiously displayed in the Etruscan museum in Volterra. It's called "Evening Shadow," represents the figure of a boy, elongated to the point of abstraction, and is one of the most modern pieces I've ever seen. It stands about two feet tall.
will pass on this one as all I can think of is the "Dali's" out there, says she laughing. Do not admire Picasso. This probably makes me way out side the loop. I do like some of his earlier work but think he sold out for money. Just my humble opinion. I know, I am not properly paying homage.
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