Getty will return rare and highly prized sculptural group of Orpheus and the Sirens to Italy

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles will return a splendid terracotta sculptural group depicting Orpheus and the Sirens to Italy, the museum itself has announced. The museum is also working with Italy’s Ministry of Culture to arrange the return of four other objects at a date to be announced. These are a colossal marble head of a deity from the second century AD; a stone mold from the second century AD for casting pendants; an oil painting titled Oracle at Delphi, an 1881 work by Camillo Miola; and an Etruscan bronze thymiaterion from the fourth century BC. The first three of these objects were acquired by J. Paul Getty and the Getty Museum in the 1970s; the fourth in 1996. None of these objects have been on public display in recent years. The Getty is currently working with the Ministry of Culture to arrange for their return.

Regarding theOrpheus with Sirens, it was found that the group, a set of sculptures originating from Magna Graecia, 350-300 B.C, illegally left Italy (and the request for its return had already been made 20 years ago), although we do not know from which site it was excavated (the museum would not release specific information about the studies that led to the illegal provenance, but it does let it be known that it is certain that it is illegally excavated work), and consequently, in accordance with the Getty’s policy of returning objects to their country of origin or to the country where they were discovered when reliable information indicates that they were stolen or illegally excavated, the museum has removed the sculptures from the exhibit and is preparing to transport them to Rome in September, where the group will become part of an as-yet unspecified museum to be designated by the Ministry of Culture (at the moment, however, the most likely candidate seems to be the National Archaeological Museum in Taranto, since this is supposed to be the context of the group’s provenance). The extreme fragility of the Orpheus and Sirens statues requires custom-made equipment and procedures.

TheOrpheus with the Sirens, depicting the challenge that pitted the mythological storyteller against the fantastical creatures known for their melodious song, is among the most prized pieces in the Getty’s ancient collections, and it is such a peculiar group that it was also previously thought to be a forgery, since it has no similar matches. Studies of the clay, however, have proven its authenticity. Since it was purchased in Switzerland in 1976, along with the two sirens, it has always been on public display. TheOrpheus is shown seated on a klismos (a seat) that has a wide, rounded back, and rests its feet on a rectangular platform composed of two separate sections. The body is wrapped in a cloak that covers the left shoulder and part of the left arm, leaving the chest bare and showing wrinkles around the navel and armpit. The cloak descends on both sides in deep folds, covering the figure’s legs down to the calves. The legs are slightly open so that the clay of the garment forms deep, thin folds. The right foot rests on the stool, while only the toe of the left foot touches it. The figure wears flat sandals with straps that cross over the tops of the feet. The figure’s head, turned to the right, has a mouth with fleshy, carefully shaped lips, and open to reveal the upper dental arch; a dimple marks the point where the lower lip meets the prominent chin. The curling of the lower lip and the half-open mouth are both signs that this figure was probably portrayed in theact of singing. The accuracy of the depiction is such that even the tear glands can be seen in the eyes. The figure probably originally had painted hair, as was determined by careful analysis of the nape of the neck, but it is possible that the head was partially covered by a headdress, as the modeling of the upper part of the forehead seems to suggest. The right arm, with the elbow resting on the torso, is bent, leaning forward to hold a plectrum, while the left hand was probably plucking the strings of a kithara (zither). A trace of the instrument survives in the concavity where it must have rested on the left leg.

The mermaid on the left is caught in a meditative pose: she has long, slender legs ending in four long claws (according to Greek mythology, mermaids were half-women and half-birds), and she is clinging to a rocky base. The head is tilted slightly to the left, following an iconographic pattern generally employed to express sorrow or sadness. The features of the face, full and round, resemble those of Orpheus. The face is framed by a hairstyle characterized by a series of roughly shaped, short, twisted curls applied to the top of the head and partially covering the ears. The figure is dressed in a short chiton with apoptygma (a special type of short robe) that adheres to her body, forming folds that flatten at the front, while at the sides they open as if moved by the wind. At the back, the drapery extends to form a wide tubular tail, flared toward the fan-shaped end. The other mermaid is identical at the bottom, but differs in the movement of the arms.

“Due 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, we have decided that these objects should be returned,” says Timothy Potts, director of the Getty Museum. “We appreciate our strong and fruitful relationship with the Italian Ministry of Culture and our many archaeological, curatorial and other scholarly colleagues throughout Italy with whom we share a mission to promote the preservation of ancient cultural heritage.”

Also speaking on the case was the director of the National Archaeological Museum in Taranto, Eva degl’Innocenti, who as mentioned above is among the papillables the museum where the group will most likely be displayed. “When a heritage of such inestimable value returns home,” she said, “it is a great civic and moral achievement, not only for the cultural heritage it represents, but also for the victory of the sense of legality and the relationship with the territories as the Faro Convention itself teaches us.” The group should come precisely from the Taranto area to which the Getty itself had already returned ancient Apulian-made ceramic artifacts in recent years, which were then displayed at MArTA in the Mitomania exhibition in April 2019. “On that occasion, thanks to the great investigative work conducted by the Heritage Protection Unit of the Carabinieri Command, we returned to public enjoyment masterpieces of Apulian ceramics that had been stolen from archaeological contexts in Taranto,” adds the director, “and today, as then, that historical and cultural identity represents an indissoluble bond with this land. It would therefore be desirable for Orpheus and his Sirens to return home and become part of MArTA’s permanent exhibition. After the Roman exhibition, therefore, the MArTA would be ready to host the group of terracotta figures, also by virtue of the ongoing project of a new exhibition layout that would allow the sculptural group to be able to recover its identity context.”

“Thanks to the collaboration between the Comando Carabinieri Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale and the U.S. authorities,” comments Culture Minister Dario Franceschini instead, “the magnificent sculptural group ’Orpheus and the Sirens’ currently at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles will return to Italy, from where it had been illegally exported following its discovery during an illegal excavation in the Taranto area. In the coming weeks, the work will return and will initially be displayed at the Museum of Saved Art and then soon be returned to its territory of origin, as is now customary. I thank the women and men of the CCTPC and our diplomatic corps for their commitment, professionalism and determination in achieving this extraordinary result, which brings back to Italy a work of exceptional value.”

Getty will return rare and highly prized sculptural group of Orpheus and the Sirens to Italy

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