"Victorious Youth": What's the End Game?

Replica of Getty Victorious Youth in Fano, Italy

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favor of Italy's right to seize the long-contested Victorious Youth from the Getty Villa museum. The question is, what happens next? The legal battle has been raging for decades and it's hard to tell whether we're nearer its end or its beginning.

It's rare for authorities to seize a contested artwork. Restitution is motivated more by ethics or even public relations. In practice, the museum usually concedes the evidence of looting and returns the object. That's what the Getty did just recently with a bronze head, and with Orpheus and the Sirens, Cult Statue of Aphrodite, and all the many other objects the Getty has returned over the years. 

So why isn't the Getty returning Victorious Youth? The circumstances are different in several ways. It's a Greek statue, found in the sea by Italian fishermen. The Getty argues that Italy has no right to a statue found in international waters (though the findspot is another imponderable). In 1968 Italy's Court of Cassation ruled that there was no evidence the statue belonged to Italy. The Getty purchased the bronze in 1977.

Over the years Italian authorities have offered different theories of the statue's legal status. Italy now claims that the statue became property of the state once it touched Italian soil, if not before. 

Though an appeal to the latest ruling is yet again possible, the European Court has no jurisdiction in the U.S. The ultimate outcome appears to depend on the U.S. Department of Justice. They would have to decide whether to implement Italy's seizure ruling or bring it to a California court.