Chasing Aphrodite (49 page)

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fourth-century
B.c.
bronze:
The story of the Saarbrücken bronze, as it came to be known, is based on confidential Getty records, including a copy of the correspondence between "Jack Wynn" and Marion True; interviews with former Getty officials; international law enforcement documents, including an Interpol account of the FBI's interview with True; interviews with Greek investigators; and the reporting and assistance of Greek journalist Nikolas Zirganos. Jack Wynn could not be located, and it is not clear whether this name is an alias, as in the case of "Dr. Victor Preis" and the funerary wreath. Christoph Leon declined to comment in detail on the Saarbrücken case, but in the authors' brief interview with him, he said of True, "She was never interested in buying this piece. She expressly said that, and her visiting was only [for] the archaeological interest ... I don't want to elaborate on this. She did not see it in my home."
the Greek art squad had been:
As described by a former art squad chief, the Greeks began working with German police and uncovered a smuggling network that allowed dealers in Munich to "shop" for looted antiquities from a catalogue of photos. The pieces were then smuggled into Germany by second-generation Greek Germans in fruit trucks or ships' cargo holds.

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 "
Tomorrow one of our officers":
July 1998 art squad report to the public prosecutor in Athens. True denied ever making an offer for the statue.
"
previously come to the attention":
Interpol communiqué from Washington, D.C., office to Los Angeles office, August 1990. Leon declined the authors' requests to discuss the allegations.

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True admitted:
Report from Interpol U.S. to Interpol Germany and Interpol Greece reporting on the oral examinations of True, Christine Steiner, and John Papadopoulos by an FBI agent based in Los Angeles, November 23, 1998.

13: F
OLLOW THE
P
OLAROIDS

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Raffiotta had been pursuing:
Interview with Silvio Raffiotta.

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Ferri had jumped:
This description of Ferri's background and interest in antiquities is based on interviews with Ferri.

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the venerable auction house:
The report was based on hundreds of pages of internal documents leaked by a disgruntled former Sotheby's employee to Watson. The documentary coincided with the release of Watson's book
Sotheby's: The Inside Story
(Random House, 1998).
the Villa Giulia:
The museum is housed in a sprawling villa designed in part by Michelangelo and built in the 1550s as a summer getaway for Pope Julius III. The pope scandalized the church by awarding cardinal status to his adopted teenage nephew, who was reportedly also his gay lover.

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 "
Stop!" Pellegrini cried:
This account is based on interviews with Daniela Rizzo and Maurizio Pellegrini. Watson
(Sotheby's,
355) has the date of sale as December 8, 1994, not November 12.
Ferri looked up:
Based on interviews with Ferri, Pellegrini, and Rizzo.

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As Rizzo and Pellegrini:
This process took place over several years, with Rizzo and Pellegrini submitting a full report to Ferri in the summer of 1999—months after Ferri's confrontation with True at the Villa Giulia described later in this chapter.
labeled "Trip to LA":
In April 1987, Hecht, Medici, and Medici's son traveled to the Getty. Medici had with him twenty ancient plates that True had seen in his Geneva warehouse. True showed the plates to museum director John Walsh, who turned them down. Medici was so irate that he refused to sell the Getty fragments that matched one of its vases. An internal review found that True wrote an apologetic letter, adding a line she would come to regret: "Slowly, we will work on John and try to persuade him to change his mind."

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As she had with:
True had returned the tripod in November 1996.
She was signing paperwork:
This confrontation is based on True's 2005 testimony, as well as interviews with the Carabinieri and Ferri.

14: A W
OLF IN
S
HEEP'S
C
LOTHING

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True and the Getty were suggesting:
In the press release announcing the return of the Onesimos, True is quoted as saying, "Our antiquities collecting policy calls for our prompt return of objects to their country of origin should information come to light that convinces us that this is the appropriate action to take. While no claim had been made for these objects prior to our initiating the return, we felt that in each instance there was sufficient cause to remove the objects from the collection and return them to their country of origin."
like waving a red cape:
Interviews with John Herrmann and George Goldner.
"
She's wandering all over":
Interview with a former senior Getty official.

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Philippe de Montebello:
Biographical details of de Montebello are from various sources, including an interview with a Met curatorial official and the Met Web site.
naked nationalism:
Based on statements by de Montebello in various newspaper articles, as well as his National Press Club speech in 2006 (see chapter 21).

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 The Met's acquisition policy:
Archaeologists claimed that the Met's policy was a farce, since most looted objects could be "cooled off" in a Swiss warehouse for a decade or more and beauty or cultural significance was highly subjective.
"
some of the finest":
Celestine Bohlen, "Archaeologist Vindicated in Hunch on Antique Silver Hoard,"
International Herald Tribune,
February 3, 2006.

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Investigators found:
Law enforcement records and Itali an court documents show that Interpol authorities in Beirut were unable to find the Lebanese dealer. Ashton Hawkins claimed that the silvers were imported into the United States before the Met purchased them, but records show that Customs Service officials found they had been imported on behalf of the museum by Robert Hecht. Italian court records describe Hawkins's statements to U.S. law enforcement about the importation as "incoherent" and "contradictory."

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In October 1999:
The request and supporting statistics are from
Report of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee on the Request from the Government of the Republic of Italy Recommending U.S. Import Restrictions on Certain Categories of Archaeological Material,
submitted to the U.S. State Department on February 7, 2000. Italy's request for import restrictions was ultimately approved in 2001, renewed in 2006, and under review for a second renewal in August 2010. The Cultural Property Advisory Committee's report was released in March 2004 under a Freedom of Information Act request by Peter K. Tompa, counsel for the International Association of Professional Numismatists.
On October 12:
Transcript of October 12, 1999, Cultural Property Advisory Committee hearing. The description of events are from inverviews with various participants and the authors' visit to the meeting room.

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The curator went even further:
Often overlooked, True's letter to the committee was astonishingly forthcoming about the moral blindness of antiquities curators, including herself. A copy of True's October 12, 1999, letter was provided by the Cultural Property Advisory Committee.

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Munitz had facetiously suggested:
Although Munitz has denied using the Starbucks line on staffers, he did once facetiously suggest in front of trustees that a top financial officer in charge of the Getty renovation might soon be "wearing a Starbucks hat" if the project didn't come in on time. Interviews with two former Getty officials.

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He filed a defamation:
In his suit, Turner claimed he was wrongfully terminated following an affair with his secretary. The secretary allegedly told him "that 'everyone in the Museum had affairs,' including Goldner and Gribbon, and that no disciplinary action was ever taken," according to the suit. Two former Getty officials confirmed the Gribbon-Goldner relationship, and Goldner said in an e-mail, "I don't deny it." Debbie Gribbon declined to comment.

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True dismissed fears:
A copy of True's remarks was provided by the Getty Trust.

15: T
ROUBLESOME
D
OCUMENTS

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On October 17:
Details of the Getty's internal investigation are from confidential Getty records and interviews with several former senior Getty officials.
acquisition of a painting:
Martin was working at the Manhattan boutique law firm Werbel & Carnelutti when he was first hired by the Getty to defend its acquisition of Ruben's "The Death of Samson." The Italians had opposed the Getty's export of the painting until their experts determined it was a knockoff worth a fraction of the $3 million down payment the Getty had paid. Barry Munitz knew Martin through Martin's wife, Jill, who had represented him during the Texas savings and loan lawsuit. Interviews with a former high-ranking Getty official.

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a VIP escort:
Eakin, "
Treasure Hunt.
"
the greetings were warm:
Interviews with Paolo Ferri and a second participant in the meetings.

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"
We have a problem":
Gribbon's conversation with Murphy is based on interviews with a former senior Getty official.

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a "great advantage":
Two sources say that this was the first and last time the question of True's representation was formally weighed, despite damning information that surfaced later, such as True's undisclosed loans from Christo Michaelides and the Fleischmans.
no legal consequences:
Ferri has stated on several occasions that the Getty's attorneys acted improperly by verbally promising to provide all relevant documents but then withholding the most damaging ones. "It seems to me there was a legal and moral obligation to give everything possible related to this conspiracy, and hiding material to me is truly reprehensible," Ferri said during True's 2005 testimony. Richard Martin, Francesco Isolabella, and Peter Erichsen have all refuted this claim. "What the museum gave is exactly what I offered verbally in the first meeting," Isolabella said in the same 2005 hearing. In an interview with the authors, Martin said, "We provided him with everything he asked for. I didn't mislead him, and I didn't misrepresent anything." In a written statement to the authors dated July 30, 2008, Erichsen said, "The Getty was at all times in good faith compliance with its agreement with the Italian prosecutor."

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The curator was polite:
Penny Cobey's interview with True and concerns about the Aphrodite are recounted in Cobey's confidential memo to Martin on the Aphrodite acquisition, dated March 4, 2001.
there was no proof:
During the controversy over the Aphrodite, True suggested that it could have been made in Italy but exported in antiquity to Libya, also the site of ancient Greek colonies, and where it was found centuries later.
"
to keep the Carabinieri":
Cobey's memo on the Aphrodite acquisition.

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Canavesi's trial lasted:
Copy of trial transcript.
In Christine Steiner's records:
Handwritten notes in Getty files.

16: M
OUNTAINS AND
M
OLEHILLS

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early dealings with Jiri Frel:
Hecht's memoir mentions True only once, when the middleman proposed selling the Getty a red-figured psykter (a jar for cooling wine), looted from near Cerveteri, for $700,000. At first True was enthusiastic about the potential acquisition, Hecht writes, but when he flew to California with the object, the curator changed her mind, claiming that she had heard it was a fake. Apparently, True had picked up a rumor that a rival dealer had put out into the market.
He lingered on:
Hecht's memoir describes the moment he first saw the stellar antiquity: "GM [Giacomo Medici] was loyal + one morning in Dec. 1971 he appeared at our apt in Villa Pepoli shortly after breakfast with polaroids of a kr. signed by Euphr. I could not believe my eyes."

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It was the whiteness:
The account of Ferri's visit to the Getty Center and True's deposition is based on interviews with Ferri; two former Getty officials; and True's 2001 deposition.

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Over the course:
This account is based on the transcript of True's two-day deposition.

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had produced no more leads:
Interview with Paolo Ferri.
her disclosure about von Bothmer:
Interviews with two former Getty officials.

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Board members also:
Interviews with two former Getty officials.

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 "
radioactive":
Notes from the Getty's internal review and interviews with a former Getty official.

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 it was important that the Getty:
After years of internal fretting about the legality of their actions in the antiquities trade, both True and Walsh would deny under oath that they were aware that the Getty was buying looted art. True's 2001 deposition; Walsh's 2004 deposition.
In March 2002:
The story of the Poseidon is based on interviews with two former Getty officials, contemporaneous notes from a participant in the talks, internal Getty records, and information supplied by Getty antiquities curator Karol Wight.

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With Erichsen's approval:
In his July 30, 2008, written statement, Erichsen said, "I have no recollection of 'approving' the loan ... nor do I recall any controversy about the loan ... My position throughout was that the evidence should be weighed as dispassionately as possible under the circumstances."

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the family filed suit:
Court documents from Symes's London trial show that Michaelides' family believed that his personal effects included "six watches, several of them Cartier from the 1920s and one Rolex, [and] one pair of cufflinks by Cartier inlaid with sapphires and baguette diamonds."
Michaelides' poor aunt:
In her 2001 deposition for her family's lawsuit against Robin Symes, Despina Papadimitriou described the financial condition of the aunt: "Her husband had died when she was pretty young, in her early 30s, and she was not well off. My father supported her for all his life. It is inconceivable that Christo would have asked her for even small loans." The lawsuit drove Symes into bankruptcy on March 27, 2003.