Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Israeli media: Ben Gurion Airport airspace sut down following missile launch from Yemen
Israeli media: Air raid sirens sound in the central region and Hashfala following the detection of a missile launch from Yemen
SDF announces the killing of three of its members as a result of ISIS cells detonating a landmine targeting a vehicle of a security patrol on the Hasaka-Raqqa road
The Popular Resistance Committees: We call on all international institutions to take urgent action and uphold their responsibilities by restoring and immediately enforcing effective mechanisms for the distribution of humanitarian aid.
The Popular Resistance Committees: The latest Zio-American crime against Gaza’s starving civilians constitutes a war crime, for which the US administration bears full and direct responsibility.
Gaza Media Office: Bloody spectacle shows that these zones have become collective death traps rather than aid distribution zones.
Gaza Media Office: Dozens of citizens are still surrounded under constant fire in the vicinity of the "aid station."
Gaza Media Office: As soon as citizens arrived, occupation and Americans opened direct fire on them.
Gaza Media Office: Occupation, in complicity with the US company, called on citizens to move toward Wadi Gaza Bridge, claiming that aid would be distributed.
Gaza Government Media Office: Occupation set a bloody trap at bridge of Wadi Gaza, luring thousands of starved civilians, and opened fire on them.

Italy wants seven looted artifacts held at Louvre repatriated

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News Websites
  • 17 Jul 2023 23:51
3 Min Read

According to the Museum's Director, pieces of doubtful origin are "a stain in the Louvre's collections."

  • x
  • Italy wants to reclaim seven potentially stolen artifacts from Louvre
    Amphora by the "painter of Berlin" (RMN-Grand Palais (Musee du Louvre))

Italy is requesting the restitution of seven historic items held by the Louvre which are believed to have been looted, including a fifth-century amphora by the so-called Berlin painter.

According to the museum's director, Laurence des Cars, the artworks are under investigation. Des Cars told Le Monde, "I consider that works that have a dubious provenance are a stain in the collections of the Louvre. We must examine [these cases] with rigour and lucidity.”

Read more: Disgraced British dealer returns 750 looted antiques to Italy

Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano met with Des Cars in February to discuss the probable return of the works. Luigi La Rocca from the Italian Ministry of Culture presented a list of artifacts in the Louvre's collection requested by Italy last September, including the krater of the painter of Antimenes and a Heracles head from the ancient Etruscan city of Cerveteri.

According to Des Cars, "We will enter a new phase this fall, at the end of which we will recommend a position [on the contested works] to the Ministry of Culture.”

Related News

Iran-US talks in Rome yield limited progress, Omani FM says

EU condemns Israeli attack on diplomatic delegation in Jenin

Le Monde disclosed that some works of art can be linked to convicted antiquities dealers Giacomo Medici and Gianfranco Becchina.

A cache of Medici-related Polaroids, papers, and antiques was discovered in a Geneva Freeport in 1995, confiscated by Italian authorities, and submitted as proof in a prominent theft case in Italy in 2005. Becchina's photo archives were confiscated by Swiss authorities in 2001 and given over to the Carabinieri, Italy's leading criminal enforcement organization.

Maurizio Pellegrini and Daniela Rizzo, archaeologists who once worked for the Italian Ministry of Culture years ago, identified four artifacts in the Louvre's collection. Upon looking through records, they determined that the Louvre purchased the krater by the "painter of Antimenes" from the vendor in 1987 for $290,000.

Christos Tsirogiannis, Director of Illicit Antiquities study (UNESCO Chair), Ionian University, Greece, is another specialist who has traced the pieces in the Louvre. He discovered the "Berlin painter" amphora in the Medici archives. The piece, which had previously been held by oil magnates Nelson and William Hunt, was purchased by the Louvre at a London auction in 1994. 

Tsirogiannis wrote to Cécile Giroire, the director of the Louvre's Greek, Etruscan, and Roman departments, earlier this year, asking her to support his bid for a European Research Council (ERC) grant that would allow him to examine over 50,000 images of works confiscated from antiquities traffickers. However, the ERC denied his application.

Tsirogiannis told The Art Newspaper, “I wrote to Giroire in January, offering to cooperate in searching the Louvre’s collection of antiquities [in relation to] the dealers’ confiscated archives; my aim was to research the trafficking networks that supplied the Louvre and other museums across Europe with illicit antiquities. I offered my cooperation for free, subject to a successful application to the European Research Council."

  • Italy
  • Louvre
  • France
  • Looted artifacts

Most Read

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington (AP)

Rift widens: Trump, Netanyahu clash in heated phone call over Iran

  • Politics
  • 26 May 2025
US judges quietly consider private security amid Trump tensions

US judges quietly consider private security amid Trump pressures

  • US & Canada
  • 25 May 2025
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern occupied Palestine, Thursday, May 29, 2025 (AP)

Hamas rejects Witkoff ceasefire plan, says alters terms

  • Politics
  • 29 May 2025
Spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announces a new operation against Ben Gurion Airport on May 29, 2025 (Yemeni Military Media)

Yemen announces successful hypersonic missile strike on Ben Gurion

  • Politics
  • 30 May 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
MIT bans class president who gave pro-Palestine speech
US & Canada

MIT bans class president over pro-Palestine speech

Arab ministers condemn Israel 'ban' on planned West Bank visit
Politics

Arab ministers condemn Israeli ban on planned West Bank visit

Major General Hu Gangfeng, Vice President, National Defense University, People's Liberation Army, China, leaves after a panel discussion during the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Politics

China blasts Hegseth, calls US top 'troublemaker' in Asia-Pacific

US activists demand shutdown of Musk's 'dirty' supercomputer: Reports
Technology

US activists demand shutdown of Musk's 'dirty' supercomputer: NBC News

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS