The court in the Italian town of Pesaro, decided to return to the country of ancient Greek bronze statue from the collection of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. According to Italian prosecutors, this valuable work, which is a sculpture of a young athlete with an olive wreath on his head (also known as the "Athlete of Fano), was illegally exported from Italy, and now it must be" confiscated from the Getty Museum or other places where it is currently at ».

In response, representatives of the Los Angeles museum said that the sculpture acquired by legal means, and intend to appeal against the confiscation of the Court of Cassation in Rome .

litigation between the Italian and American parties because of this statue has been going on for quite some time. Earlier, in 2007, the same court in the city of Pesaro and dismissed the previous lawsuit on the grounds that the statute of limitations has expired, and ruled that the Getty Museum may be considered "bona fide purchasers».

Statue of a young athlete was found in 1964 - she fell into the network of the trawler Italian town of Fano, fishing in international waters of the Adriatic Sea. Rather than declare the find to the authorities, fishermen buried her in the garden of cabbage, and then sold to middlemen, who hid her in the bathroom of a local priest. After that the statue was removed from the country, and for some time about it, nothing was known. Only in 1972, it mysteriously appeared in Europe: an art dealer from Munich to put it on sale for $ 4 million. Then the statue and found Jean Paul Getty (Jean Paul Getty). As it was established from surviving documents, before making a purchase, he would receive the approval of the Italian authorities. However, unfortunately, a deal he has not succeeded: billionaire died in 1976. A year after his death in 1977, the statue still bought for 3.9 million dollars by the representatives of the Getty Museum. True, they do not turn to the Italian authorities, but instead consulted with lawyers seller in Italy, who confirmed that Italy has no right of ownership of this product.

Initially it was thought that the author work was Lysippos, the famous Greek sculptor who lived in the IV century BC. e. However, recent studies have shown that the statue dates from the III - II cent. BC. BC.

Material prepared Ekaterina Guseva, AI

Sources: artdaily.com , latimes.com , artinvestment.ru

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