ROME - Orpheus, the mythical cantor, seated on a throne, his lips parted, with his music has succeeded in the impossible.
The malefic mermaids, modeled not with fish tails but half women and half birds according to the most ancient iconography, remain enchanted.
With the rich robes and curls falling out of the hairstyles, they can't look away.
They are silent.
And the Argonauts, passing through the waves, are safe.
They will not fall victim to their song.
Orpheus and the Sirens, the sculptural group of the fourth century BC, a triumph of beauty and perfection, stolen in the 70s from an archaeological site in Taranto and then purchased by The Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, now "saved", has returned "home" "thanks to the complex investigative activity in Italy and to
abroad of the Carabinieri of the Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Taranto, with the District Attorney's Office in Manhattan and the Homeland Security Investigations.
Landed in Italy only on Tuesday, the group, made of almost life-size terracotta, is now the superstar of the new Museum of Salvated Art inside the National Roman Museum, where it will be exhibited until October 15 and then fly to the Archaeological Museum of Taranto where it will enter the collection.
"A great satisfaction at the end of my mandate - comments the Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini -. Again an extraordinary masterpiece of art that had been illegally stolen from us and which is part of our beauties", recounting "what the Italy for its heritage:
His return is in fact "the epilogue of a complex investigation - says the Procurator of the Republic of Taranto, Eugenia Pontassuglia - which already in the course of 2020-2021 had led to the recovery of over 2,000 archaeological finds from the 6th to the 2nd century BC, illegally stolen from the Taranto and Basilicata territories "and the identification of" a transnational criminal organization ".
In particular, the Orfeo and the sirens had been sold by some grave robbers to a "well-known local fence" with contacts with organized crime, who, in turn, had sold them to a third party with international contacts and owner of a gallery of art in Switzerland.
Until being bought by the Getty in Malibu through the intermediation of a bank official.
But go "home"
it also means finding the right reading.
"Orpheus and the sirens - explains the director of the National Roman Museum, Stéphane Verger - tells of a musical clash that is also a philosophical and political clash, important in the Pythagorean context. A clash between the Greek city and the chaos of the world, three two pieces of music and two divinities. A reading not foreseen by the context of the Getty, allowed by the return to Italy. Now - he says - a new life begins for this work, also of study, for example on pigments ".
A reading not foreseen by the context of the Getty, allowed by the return to Italy.
Now - he says - for this work a new life begins, also of study, for example on pigments ".
A reading not foreseen by the context of the Getty, allowed by the return to Italy.
Now - he says - for this work a new life begins, also of study, for example on pigments ".
