Italian Culture Minister Upbraids the Getty

Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli on Friday took the occasion of the signing of an antiquities agreement with Switzerland to issue a highly negative assessment of ongoing discussions with the J. Paul Getty Museum over 52 Getty-owned antiquities that Italy claims were illicitly removed from its territory.

According to an Italian-language report by the ANSA news agency (supplied to me by the Culture Ministry), Rutelli indicated that negotiations with the Getty, while "still open," were on the verge of "rupture." The Getty, according to the report, is willing to return only "about 20" works, and "does not want to return the two most important masterpieces," identified as "the famous Morgantina Venus and the Athlete of Lysippos." ANSA reported that without those two sculptures, Italy will not sign an agreement.

Under the accord with Switzerland, which has been a major center for marketing antiquities of dubious provenance, sellers and buyers of Italian archeological objects will now be required to convincingly document their origins.

Italy is also thinking of the possibility of extending the collaboration between the two countries to more recent objects, such as Renaissance art, Rutelli added.

Italy has already signed antiquities agreements with the Metropolitan Museum and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Back in June, Italy and the Getty said they had reached a tentative agreement that would be formalized by the end of the summer. Meanwhile, the trial in Rome of former Getty antiquities curator Marion True resumed last week.

UPDATE: Reaction from Michael Brand, director of the Getty Museum, here.