Getty to return illegally excavated Orpheus sculptures, some of museum’s greatest antiquities, to Italy

The J. Paul Getty Museum is returning its Orpheus group of sculptures — a culturally significant group of nearly life-size terracotta figures known as “Orpheus and the Sirens,” some of the museum’s greatest antiquities — to Italy. The objects, which have been determined to have been illegally excavated and exported, will be sent to Rome in September. The institution is coordinating with Italy’s Ministry of Culture to send four other objects back as well at a future date.

“Thanks to information provided by Matthew Bogdanos and the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicating the illegal excavation of Orpheus and the Sirens,” Getty Museum director Timothy Potts said in a statement, “we determined that these objects should be returned.”

“Orpheus and the Sirens” is extremely fragile, and the museum is working on “specially tailored equipment and procedures” regarding its transfer.

J. Paul Getty purchased the Orpheus sculptures in the spring of 1976. It was among his final acquisitions prior to his June 6 death.

In his diary, which is part of the Getty’s archives, an entry from Saturday, March 6, 1976, notes that he “bought the following objects” including “a group of 3 Greek statues made in Tarentum at the end of the 4th C.B.C. They represent a singer Orpheus seated and 2 standing sirens. $550,000 from Bank Leu. All of these naturally were on [Czech-American archaeologist Jiří Frel’s] recommendation.” Frel was the Getty’s antiquities curator from 1973 to 1986.

The Orpheus group of sculptures is an incredibly important work to the Getty. It has been on view, in a ground floor gallery at the Getty Villa, since it was acquired more than four decades ago.

“We value our strong and fruitful relationship with the Italian Ministry of Culture and with our many archaeological, conservation, curatorial, and other scholarly colleagues throughout Italy, with whom we share a mission to advance the preservation of ancient cultural heritage,” Potts said.