The “Getty” Bronze

Posted on March 7, 2019 by babbityjean

I have written several posts about a favorite topic—art, stolen art, repatriated art, and the thorny questions surrounding who “owns” the patrimony of the art world.  Now a new controversy has emerged…again between Italy and the United States.  Actually, it’s not new…it’s been an ongoing controversy between the Italian government and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles over what is now called the Getty bronze.

In 1977 the Getty Museum purchased a bronze statue called the “Victorious Athlete” from an antique dealer in Germany for $3.95 million.  It is a life-size athlete crowned with an olive wreath possibly by Lysippus, a Greek sculptor from the 4thcentury B.C.  (More recent scholarship has dated it to the second or third century B.C.) Life-size bronzes are very rare and this is one of the finest from the Classical era. It has been the centerpiece of the Greek and Roman antiquities collection at the museum in Malibu for the past 50 years.

Since 1989 Italy has asked the Getty to return the statue to Italy, and the Getty Museum has declined. Here’s the story.  The statue was probably fashioned in Greece and was lost at sea after being stolen by the Romans.  The bronze was retrieved from Adriatic waters by Italian fishermen in 1964. They realized the value of their discovery, brought it to shore in Fano (Le Marche), and buried it in a cabbage field, awaiting the right buyer.  The statue was sold several times after its discovery and may have been smuggled out of Italy illegally and hidden at various points in a bathtub and even in a convent.

Before the Getty purchased the bronze in 1977, it undertook a comprehensive, five-year effort to determine that the statue could be purchased legally and in good faith.  The review included analysis of international, Italian, American, and California law, including the 1968 ruling by Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, which stated that there was no evidence that this statue belonged to the Italian state.  In 1973, acting on a request from Italy, German police initiated an investigation into whether the German dealer had received stolen goods. The investigation was dropped for lack of evidence of wrongdoing.

Why then is Italy so insistent that the Victorious Athlete be returned to Italy?  In December 2018, the Court of Cassation decided that the museum must forfeit the bronze.  While there was no published ruling explaining the reasoning, Italy believes that the statue was found in Italian territorial waters and was illegally exported from Italy, conclusions that run contrary to the Court’s 1968 ruling. Italy also believes that the statue was culturally and administratively Italian when it sank.

The Getty, on the other hand, believes that the statue was retrieved from international waters, was created outside of Italy, and is not an Italian object subject to repatriation. Furthermore, the Getty maintains that it acted in good faith and relied on a decision of Italy’s highest court when it was purchased.  This case has dragged on for 10 years, and the battle isn’t over.

The Getty must also feel a little underappreciated.  In 2007, the Getty returned 40 works of art to Italy that may have been illegally acquired, including an enormous statue of Aphrodite (see “The Controversy over who owns the world’s art” post of October 1, 2015).  In 2016 it returned the terracotta Head of Hades to Sicily (see “Underworld” post of April 21, 2016), and in 2017 it repatriated a marble statue of Zeus (see “The Statue of Zeus Enthroned” post of July 13, 2017).  In addition, the Getty has trained Italian scholars, curators and conservators, and provided millions of dollars in support of Italian cultural organizations.  In the case of the bronze, the Getty says it will continue to defend its legal right to the statue because the law and facts do not warrant restitution.

Respectable museums today do not retain works that were stolen or transferred in violation of international law.  Due diligence requires, at a minimum, documentation of where it was discovered in modern times and its subsequent movement across national borders. Applying these standards is not always easy.

Stay tuned…

 

Posted in Arte, California, English, Foto, Italia, Roma, Storia | 1 Comment

I suoni di silenzio

Posted on February 28, 2019 by babbityjean

Nei secoli XVII e XVIII, i più celebrati liutai di tutti i tempi lavoravano a Cremona in Italia.  I nomi di Amati, Guarneri, e soprattutto Stradivari definiscono l’eccellenza nella costruzione di strumenti a corde e l’apice della produzione sonora.  Come Antonio Stradivari e gli altri liutai del periodo creassero questi strumenti dal suono così straordinario è un mistero insolubile. Per centinaia di anni, gli scienziati hanno cercato di scoprire i segreti che stanno dietro alla loro manifattura.  Le ricerche hanno studiato tutto, dai tipi di legno utilizzato, all’impatto del tempo sul legno, alle sostanze chimiche usate per proteggere gli strumenti contro i tarli, all’effetto delle decorazioni sulla produzione del suono.  Queste teorie sono interessanti ma inconcludenti (vedete il post, “Il mistero di Stradivari,” dal 21 luglio 2016).

Oggi Cremona presenta il Museo del Violino, che ospita alcuni dei migliori violini, viole e violoncelli creati dai maestri. Sono conservati con cura in teche di vetro, visibili ma non toccabile. Nel gennaio 2019, sono usciti dalle teche ed erano stati suonati da musicisti attentamente selezionati come parte di uno straordinario progetto per preservare il suono dei migliori strumenti a corde del mondo. Chiamato il “Stradivarius Sound Bank”, questo progetto è progettato per catturare i toni creati dagli strumenti della collezione del Museo del Violino. Secondo il curatore del museo, Fausto Cacciatori, ogni Stradivari ha “una sua personalità”. Ma i loro suoni distintivi cambieranno inevitabilmente e andranno persi nel giro di pochi decenni. “Fa parte del loro ciclo di vita”, ha aggiunto. “Li preserviamo e li ripristiniamo, ma dopo aver raggiunto una certa età, diventano troppo fragili per essere suonati e ‘vanno a dormire’, per così dire”.

Ecco come il Stradivarius Sound Bank è stata concepito ed è condotto (come riportato nelle pubblicazioni italiane e nel New York Times) … con alcune sorprese lungo la strada. Tre ingegneri del suono hanno voluto creare un database di tutti i suoni possibili che gli strumenti Stradivarius possono produrre. Ciò non solo permetterebbe alle generazioni future di ascoltare questi strumenti, ma il database potrebbe essere manipolato per produrre nuove registrazioni quando il tono degli strumenti originali si sarebbe degradato. I musicisti del futuro sarebbero anche in grado di registrare una sonata con uno strumento che non funziona più. Questo sarebbe un modo per rendere immortali i migliori strumenti mai realizzati.

Thomas Koritke, uno dei tecnici del suono che viene dalla Germania, e che guida il progetto, ha affermato che l’organizzazione ha richiesto molto tempo. In primo luogo, “ci sono voluti alcuni anni per convincere il museo a consentirci di utilizzare strumenti a corde di 500 anni”, ha affermato. Poi hanno dovuto trovare i migliori musicisti che conoscessero gli strumenti perfettamente. Poi, l’acustica dell’auditorium nel museo dove avrebbero suonato è stata studiata. Trentadue microfoni ultrasensibili sono stati installati nell’auditorium per catturare i suoni dei 4 strumenti selezionati (2 violini, una viola e un violoncello). Nel 2017 gli ingegneri hanno pensato che il progetto fosse finalmente pronto per iniziare. Ma un controllo di suono ha rivelato un problema enorme.

Come in molte città italiane, le strade in centro a Cremona sono fatte di ciottoli. Il rumore dei motori delle auto, una donna che camminava su tacchi a spillo, la voce nei bar e nei ristoranti producevano vibrazioni che correvano sottoterra e riverberavano nei microfoni. O il progetto – o la città – doveva essere chiuso. Fortunatamente per i tecnici del suono, il sindaco di Cremona, Gianluca Galimberti, è anche il presidente della Stradivarius Foundation, l’ente municipale che possiede il museo. Il 7 gennaio le strade attorno al museo sono state chiuse per cinque settimane. Le strade nel vivace centro della città sono state isolate e il traffico è stato dirottato. In una conferenza stampa, Galimberti ha implorato i cittadini di evitare qualsiasi rumore. Anche a coloro che vivevano in appartamenti vicino alla piazza del museo veniva chiesto di camminare scalzi e di astenersi dal picchiare sui piatti e pentole in cucina. Un rumore improvviso e inaspettato avrebbe potuto persino una visita dalla polizia locale. All’interno dell’auditorium del museo, i sistemi di ventilazione e ascensore sono stati disattivati. Ogni lampadina nella sala da concerto è stata svitata per eliminare il debole ronzio.

Nel periodo di silenzio in gennaio e oltre, i quattro musicisti suonarono centinaia di scale e arpeggi, usando tecniche diverse con i loro archi o pizzicando le corde dei famosi strumenti. Secondo Koritke, fare questo è sia fisicamente che mentalmente impegnativo. Devono suonare migliaia di note individuali e transizioni per otto ore al giorno, sei giorni alla settimana, per più di un mese. Il beneficio per le generazioni future sarà sbalorditivo.

Ironia della sorte, il silenzio non è un fenomeno nuovo per la città di Cremona. Durante il Rinascimento, un convento si trovava nell’attuale sede del Museo del Violino. E anche durante il Rinascimento l’area intorno a Piazza Marconi a Cremona fu chiamata l’Isola del Silenzio perché era popolata da tessitori di lino e lana e altri tessuti. I cittadini, tuttavia, non dovevano camminare in punta di piedi.

 

Posted in Arte, Foto, Italia, Italiano, Lombardia, Musica, Storia | Leave a comment

The Sounds of Silence

Posted on February 28, 2019 by babbityjean

In the 17thand 18thcenturies, the most famous luthiers of all time worked in Cremona, Italy.  The names Amati, Guarneri, and especially Stradivari connote excellence in instrument making and the pinnacle of sound production.  But how Antonio Stradivari and the other luthiers of the period created these instruments of such extraordinary sound is an enduring mystery. For hundreds of years, scientists have been trying to discover the secrets behind their craftsmanship. Researchers studied everything from the types of wood used, to the impact of weather at the time on the wood, to the chemicals used to protect the instruments against woodworm, to the role of the decorations on the sound production.  The theories are interesting but inconclusive (see post, “The Mystery of Stradivari,” July 21, 2016).

Today Cremona is home to the Museum of the Violin, which houses some of the finest stringed instruments created by the masters.  They are carefully preserved in glass cases—seen but not touched.  In January 2019, they came out of their cases and were played by carefully selected musicians as part of an extraordinary project to preserve the sound of the world’s best stringed instruments.  Called the “Stradivarius Sound Bank,” this project is designed to capture the tones created by instruments selected from the Museum of the Violin’s collection.  According to the museum’s curator, Fausto Cacciatori, each Stradivarius has “its own personality.”  But their distinctive sounds will inevitably change and could be lost within just a few decades.  “It’s part of their life cycle,” he added.  “We preserve and restore them, but after they reach a certain age, they become too fragile to be played and they ‘go to sleep,’ so to speak.”

Here is how the Stradivarius Sound Bank was conceived and is being conducted (as reported in Italian publications and the New York Times) … with some surprises along the way.  Three sound engineers wanted to create a database of all the possible sounds that stringed Stradivarius instruments can produce. Not only would this enable future generations to hear these instruments, but the database would be able to be manipulated in order to produce new recordings when the tone of the original instruments degraded.  Musicians of the future would also be able to record a sonata with an instrument that no longer functions.  This would be a way to make the finest instruments ever crafted become immortal.

Thomas Koritke, one of the sound engineers who is from Hamburg, Germany, and who is leading the project, said that organizing it has taken a long time.  First, “it took us a few years to convince the museum to let us use 500-year-old stringed instruments,” he said.  Then they had to find top musicians who knew the instruments inside out.  Then, the acoustics of the auditorium in the museum where they would play were studied. Thirty-two ultrasensitive microphones were set up in the auditorium to capture the sounds from the 4 instruments selected (2 violins, a viola, and a cello).  In 2017, the engineers thought that the project was finally ready to begin. But a soundcheck revealed a major problem.

As in many Italian cities, the streets of Cremona around the museum are made of cobblestone.  The sound of car engines, a woman walking in stilettos, the voices at bars and restaurants produced vibrations that ran underground and reverberated in the microphones.  Either the project — or the town — had to be shut down.  Luckily for the visionary engineers, Cremona’s mayor, Gianluca Galimberti, is also the president of the Stradivarius Foundation, the municipal body that owns the museum.  On January 7 the streets around the museum were closed for five weeks. The streets in the busy city center were cordoned off and traffic was diverted.  At a news conference, Galimberti implored the citizens to avoid any noise.  Even those who lived in apartments near the piazza of the museum were asked to walk barefoot and to refrain from banging dishes and pans in the kitchen.  Sudden unexpected noise could even generate a visit from the local police.  Within the museum’s auditorium, the ventilation and elevator systems were turned off.  Every light bulb in the concert hall was unscrewed to eliminate a faint buzzing sound.

In the ensuing silence throughout January and beyond, the four musicians played hundreds of scales and arpeggios, using different techniques with their bows, or plucking the strings of the famous instruments.  According to Koritke, it is both physically and mentally challenging. They have to play hundreds of thousands of individual notes and transitions for eight hours a day, six days a week, for more than a month.  The payoff for future generations should be staggering.

Ironically, silence is not a new phenomenon for the city of Cremona.  During the Renaissance, a convent stood on the current site of the Museum of the Violin.  Also during the Renaissance, the area around Piazza Marconi in Cremona was called the Island of Silence because it was populated by weavers of linen and wool and other fabrics.  The citizens then, however, did not have to walk on tiptoe.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Arte, English, Foto, Italia, Lombardia, Musica, Storia | 1 Comment