Since mid-June, Rome has a new and special museum that will provide temporary shelter for art that has been ‘saved’, in the broad sense: stolen works of art intercepted on the international black art market, as well as art objects that have been recovered after an earthquake or other natural disaster to safety.
Museo dell’Arte Salvata, or the museum of rescued art is housed in a beautiful, octagonal and wonderfully cool auditorium that belongs to the Baths of Diocletian, an imposing Roman bathhouse complex from Antiquity, near the central station of Rome-Termini.
The very first exhibition, which will run until mid-October, shows 101 pre-Roman works of art, the oldest of which date from the late eighth century BC. Their place of origin is Central and Southern Italy.
It includes Etruscan ceramic amphorae, as well as works of art from Magna Graecia, the Greek colony that encompassed most of southern Italy. That collection (end of the fifth century to the middle of the third century BC) also contains some silver coins from the Greek rule.
The series of beautiful terracotta portraits with lively facial expressions (fourth to third century BC) are also striking. They probably come from Latium, the region around Rome, or Etruria, which covered a large part of modern central Italy. The artworks on display are part of 260 pieces that were seized in the US and flown to their country of origin, Italy in December last year.
Fresco from Herculaneum
And more beautiful things are expected: in September a shipment of 142 unique archaeological pieces from New York will follow. One of the art treasures is a fresco from Herculaneum, the town near Naples that was buried in 79 AD during the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius. The fresco depicts Hercules as a child strangling a snake, and that work alone is valued at $1 million. More than a third of that shipment of art treasures, including the Hercules, was seized from US hedge fund billionaire Michael Steinhardt.
Back in Italy, the fresco probably won’t stay in Rome for long. The archaeological site of Herculaneum is eager to have the fresco back home. The Museum of Saved Art in Rome is just this: just a temporary transit point for stolen or long-lost art before it can be returned home, says Stéphane Verger, director of the National Museum of Rome, also responsible for this new art collection.
Fake or real?
Only from mid-October, after this first exhibition, will the collection be thoroughly examined. Then it will become clear whether there are false objects. There is no doubt about the authenticity of the showpieces of the exhibition – such as the terracotta heads or the enormous Etruscan vases – says Verger.
But other pieces may be forgeries, or originals that were poorly painted over. Why also show those objects about which there is strong doubt? “Because we want to make the visitor realize that stolen works of art have also been robbed of their historical context,” says the director.
For archaeologists, it is precisely this context that is of great value, he explains. For example, a completely intact Mycenaean vase without any context is much less interesting than a shard of such a vase, which was found in Spain, for example. “Because that teaches us something about trade contacts between peoples. Art robbers also rob a country and a people of its own history.”
art carabinieri
Restoring that history is the mission of a specialized corps of the Italian carabinieri (Marechaussee). Since 1969, the carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Corps have already recovered more than three million works of art and intercepted 1.3 million forgeries. “Our 320 agents operate throughout Italy and also manage the largest database worldwide containing 1.3 million stolen works of art,” said Commander Roberto Riccardi.
The investigators investigate whether works of art from that database appear at auction houses, museums or private collections. But finding archaeological pieces that were looted during illegal excavations is extra difficult, because those pieces do not appear in any database. Such pieces must therefore be recognized by the investigators themselves. “If you want to work for us, a degree in art history will come in handy,” says the commander. Archaeological art from Italy on the market is almost always illegal: since 1909, all archaeological art has been owned by the Italian government.
Italy versus art criminals
Italy is an international authority in the field of cultural heritage protection. The Italian government works closely with the American authorities, because 40 percent of the worldwide art market (legally, and parallelly also illegally) is located in the US. But there are also good contacts with a lot of other countries, where the Italians will train other investigators. In addition, Italy has a corps of cultural blue helmets, who can protect art treasures in the event of natural disasters or war.
There are no mafiosi behind the illegal art trade, but highly specialized and internationally operating art criminals. Their annual turnover is estimated at around 6 billion euros. “But because of us, the illegal market has indeed shrunk,” says the commander. “No museum now purchases art of dubious origin, and auction houses are also becoming more careful.” However, eradicating art smuggling completely is a utopia. “Roman soldiers in antiquity already looted graves. And Rome itself was also sacked. As long as people exist, they will commit crimes.”