The sculptural group ‘Orpheus and the Sirens’ he returned to Italy from the USA. Under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture and thanks to the support of the Directorate General for Museums, the work – “of inestimable value”, as underlined at the Mic – will be exhibited in Rome at Museum of Saved Artwithin the National Roman Museumfrom tomorrow to October 15 to then be transferred to Archaeological Museum of Tarantowhere it will enter the collection.
The repatriation of the work was possible thanks to the complex investigative activity carried out in Italy and abroad by Carabinieri of the archeology section of the operational department of the Tpc command for the protection of cultural heritagecoordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Taranto, in collaboration with the District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan in New York and with the US Homeland Security Investigations.
The terracotta group, almost life-size, dated 4th century BC, stolen in the 1970s from an archaeological site in Taranto and subsequently purchased by the Getty Museum di Malibu a Los Angeleswill return after the Roman exhibition in its homeland and will become part of the permanent collection of the Marta, the Archaeological Museum of Taranto.
Emphasizes the Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini: “Another important return of an extraordinary masterpiece of art that had been illegally removed from the patrimony of the Italian State. As we have now defined, after the passage to the Museum of Salvated Art, the sculptural group will return to the territory from which it was torn , in Taranto, and will therefore enter the patrimony of the Marta. Thanks to the Carabinieri Tpc command, which also on this occasion, thanks to the strong collaboration with the American authorities and police forces, has allowed the return to Italy of the masterpiece. also to the Italian authorities, in particular to the Prosecutor of Taranto “.
Per Massimo Osannageneral director of Museums, it is “an extraordinary recovery of a unique masterpiece of Greek art of the fourth century BC. clandestinely excavated in the territory of Taranto. The sculptural group represents an ancient myth and perhaps adorned the tomb of an adept to the Orphic mysteries. , he who by leading a life in purity ensured the soul an unearthly survival. The sirens, who look at Orpheus, are not as we imagine them today, or women with the body of fish. They are represented as hybrid figures of woman and bird, according to the most ancient iconography, which will be superseded by the one most familiar to us only in the Middle Ages “.
Osanna continues: “The group was originally painted and we can hypothesize that, thanks to the painting, there was an intense game of glances between the sculptures, which really constitute a unique example because rarely a mythical scene like this was represented in terracotta, we have no parallels in the ancient world “.
Il general Roberto RiccardiCarabinieri Tpc commander, observes that “the return of ‘Orpheus and the Sirens’ is one of the most important recoveries ever, in the history of the Carabinieri for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and in the history of Italy. To the beauty of legality, having obtained by judicial way the restitution of the asset acts as a mirror of the legality of beauty, an investigation put at the service of a find of unparalleled artistic value. It seems impossible that many centuries ago our ancestors were able to achieve so much. Yet it is so and offering this sculptural group to everyone’s gaze can remind us where we come from and what goals we are able to achieve “.
Comment Stephane Verger director of the National Roman Museum: “When a work of art of such inestimable value returns to its territory of origin it is a great achievement for everyone, not only for the world of art and archeology, but for the whole country that re-appropriates a fundamental piece of its origins and therefore of its culture. We are pleased to welcome in the Museum of Salvated Art, created precisely for this reason, the first great success which is the recovery of ‘Orpheus and the Sirens’ after the inauguration of this space “.
With ‘Orpheus and the Sirens’, 142 objects recovered in the United States of America, which had been returned last July, have returned home these days. These are assets that can be dated between 2500 BC and the 6th century AD dating back to the Roman, Etruscan, Apulian and Magna Graecia civilizations. On the occasion of the trip that saw the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Command touch New York and Los Angeles, another 58 were returned to Italy on 6 September and will return in the coming months. In the same vein, a further 201 exhibits had been repatriated from the USA since last December, a part of them constituting the exhibition with which the Museum of Saved Art was opened on June 15.
(from Enzo Bonaiuto)