The "Venus of Morgantina"

The "Venus of Morgantina" currently at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

This is the story of repatriation, which is defined as the act of restoring or returning a person or thing back to its country of birth or origin. The statue above is at the heart of a controversy/dispute between two countries and has some major implications in the world of art and the market for art.

Museums around the world spend millions of dollars acquiring priceless and historically significant pieces of art and subsequently put them on display both to make money by drawing in customers, but also to serve an educational component in exposing those visitors to the historical significance of those items. However, there are times when museums get burned by buying a forged piece or another way they can run into trouble is when the provenance, the paper trail of sales and title to each piece, is either forged or doesn't exist to begin with.

This takes us to the Venus shown above. The Getty purchased it for $18 million from a London art dealer, who claimed to have acquired it from a Sicilian art dealer who provided provenance of private ownership reaching back to 1939. That paperwork turned out to be false. Italian police and culture ministers now claim that the Venus was stolen, from the site known as Morgantina, by tomb raiders and want it returned to Italy.

Much research and study has gone into whether or not the Venus could have come from Morgantina. The Getty has sponsored soil and rock analysis, yet a definitive answer as to where the Venus originated back in the 5th century BC can not be pinpointed.

In the town of Aidone, the nearest town to the Morgantina excavation site, we visited the museum that wants to house the Venus and it is making a loud claim to that right.

The archeological museum of Aidone, Province of Enna, Region of Sicily, Country of Italy.

Now, let me tell you something about the town of Aidone. It's small. The Province of Enna, in which Aidone lies, has the HIGHEST reported rate of poverty in the country of Italy. There are few services. It's hard to get to. Anecdote. All 70 of us on the trip were free to find lunch in the town and the best most of us could do was go to a supermarket and get sandwiches from the small counter. The country of Italy certain has all legal claim to the Venus, but would it best be served by being placed in this small town where few people will travel to see it? And if those intrepid art lovers did come would they find services or be able to find the museum at all? Where would the Venus be best for the public versus the pride and sense of importance it would bring to the people of this region are probably competing issues. These all are questions that are yet answered.

So, where does the situation stand at the moment? The Getty Museum has agreed to return the Venus, along with about 50 other items, back to Italy. This agreement was made back in 2007 and all but the Venus were returned. The Venus had already been scheduled for shows through 2010 and will be repatriated back to Italy by the end of this year. Where it will be in Italy is yet to be determined. Might it go back to Aidone? Or might it end up somewhere in Rome?

It's a fascinating question, one of intrigue, history and economics all wrapped up into one complex question, all over a statue of a goddess that was most likely made around 400 BC.

After our visit to the museum in Aidone, we went down the road to the Morgantina site itself. As you can see, it was socked in the fog.

It was eerie to be walking in such a historically significant site. It was hard to find our way around and easy to get lost.

The inhabitants of this side had a working village with public markets (the picture above was a macellum, meat slaughterhouse/market) and here a theater.

On one of the row of benches, was an inscription dedicated to Dionysius, the god of wine, fun and theater!