The Euphronios Krater: Home Alone

An interesting piece by Michael Kimmelman in the New York Times today. The single most important ancient work to be returned to Italy by the Metropolitan Museum during the Great War over looted antiquities was the Euphronios krater, a 6th century B.C. terra cotta vessel painted by Euphronios, for which the Met paid $1 million in 1972, notwithstanding that even at the time Tom Hoving, the museum's then-director, merrily surmised that it had been looted. He was right, and as you know, last year the Met sent it back to Italy.

It's now displayed at the Villa Giulia in Rome. But as Kimmelman reports, it doesn't appear to be getting many visitors there. This does nothing to undercut the case for returning the piece to Italy. It was stolen merchandise; it had to go back. But it's reminder that Italy has such a superabundance of treasures that it would do everybody a world of good if the Italians made it easier for foreign museums to borrow work from Italy — and not just museums, like the Getty or the Boston MFA, that have returned disputed works to Italy and so now have a sort of special relationship with the Italian cultural authorities.