For years, legal wrangling has seen Italy and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles battle over the ownership of an ancient Greek statue. Now, one of Italy’s leading cultural officials is casting doubt over another aspect of the work: its attribution.
Known as Victorious Youth, the bronze statue, nearly five feet tall, was recovered in 1964 from the Adriatic Sea by fishermen in the town of Fano. They later sold the figure, dated to 300–100 B.C.E., to a local antiquities dealer. The sculpture changed hands a few more times before appearing at the Munich art gallery of Herman Heinz Herzer, who restored the work and attributed it to Greek sculptor Lysippos.
After the Getty acquired Victorious Youth for $4 million in 1977, antiquities scholars, including the museum’s curator Jiri Frel, seconded the attribution to Lysippos after radiocarbon dating and an evaluation of its style and technique. Its current entry in the museum’s online collection, however, lists its creator as an “unknown maker, perhaps by a pupil of Lysippos.”
Now, the director general of Italy’s museums, Massimo Osanna, has raised his own skepticism about the statue’s attribution. Speaking to the London Times, he said: “We have no evidence it was by Lysippos apart from a vague stylistic similarity. The name is not correct.”
Massimo Osanna at the Pompeii Archaeological Park. Photo: Tiziana Fabi / AFP.
His comments hit a nerve with the residents of Fano. The town has long prided itself on the discovery of the sculpture, with its monthly magazine and a travel agency in the area named after Lysippos, according to the Times. Rather than refer to it as Victorious Youth, Italians largely term the bronze the Athlete of Fano or simply the Lisippo.
“The statue is by Lysippos. Why would the Getty have bought it if it weren’t?” Giampiero Patrignani, the editor of Fano’s Lisippo magazine, told the Times. “The name is part of our identity. They are taking something away from us.”
“The statue has a special space in the hearts… it will always be the Lisippo for us,” Marco Berardi, the head of the Lisippo travel agency in Fano, told the outlet.
Lysippos, along with Scopas and Praxiteles, is considered one of the finest Classical Greek sculptors, his figures bearing elongated proportions in a bid to present “men as they appear to the eye.” According to Pliny, Lysippos produced some 1,500 sculptures, aided by his large workshop and crew of disciples—which has only added to the complexities of attribution.
The Victorious Youth has been ordered to be returned to Italy. Photo courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum
Osanna believes that the bronze was a copy of an original Lysippos work, but insists that that shouldn’t detract from its artistic merit or value.
“It is an extraordinarily important work because there are so few surviving ancient bronzes,” he said. “We need to move away from the obsession of searching for celebrated names.”
In this, his opinion tallies with the Getty’s assessment. “The question of authorship of Victorious Youth remains open,” the museum said in an emailed statement, citing the statue’s entry on its website and adding, “we have seen no information that changes that position.”
Victorious Youth, pre-restoration. Photo courtesy of the Getty Museum.
Speaking to the Times, the director general also addressed the protracted legal skirmish over the statue. For decades, Italy has disputed the Getty’s ownership, claiming that it was illegally smuggled out of the country. The museum, however, has maintained its legal right to the work, which it said was purchased legitimately.
In 2018, Italy’s Supreme Court ruled that Victorious Youth should be returned to the country, before the European Court of Human Rights determined last year that the statue rightfully belonged to Italy. The Getty has long vowed to uphold its ownership of the sculpture, with its vice-president of communications, Lisa Lapin, stating in 2018 that “the bronze has only a fleeting and incidental connection with Italy,” having been recovered in international waters after being submerged for millennia.
Osanna, in his latest comments, voiced support for the creation of a museum in Fano that would house Victorious Youth, among other artifacts. He added that the Getty, for its part, should “assume its responsibility.”
cREDIT: Artnet
