Italy’s Culture Ministry has recently announced a ban on loans of works to the Minneapolis Institute of Art due to an ongoing dispute over an ancient marble statue believed to have been looted from Italy nearly fifty years ago. The controversy surrounds the Stabiae Doriforo, a Roman-era copy of The Doryphoros of Polykleitos, an ancient Greek sculpture.
The conflict began in March 2022 when an Italian court ruled that the Minneapolis museum was irregularly in possession of the statue. Italy claims that the sculpture was looted in the 1970s from an archaeological site at Stabiae, an ancient city near Pompeii that was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
Italian prosecutors issued an international warrant for the artwork to be impounded and returned in February 2022. The museum, which acquired the statue in 1986 for $2.5 million, stated that it was purchased from art dealer Elie Borowski and legally imported into the United States.
Despite Italy's claims, the museum maintains that it has acted responsibly and proactively regarding its collection. The museum emphasized that it has displayed the work publicly and published it extensively over the years. The museum also highlighted that it has declined to transfer the statue in cases where proof has not been provided or where evidence demonstrates that a claim is not supported.
Italy’s Culture Ministry confirmed the ban on loans to the Minneapolis museum, citing the ongoing dispute. The museum expressed disappointment over the ban, stating that it is contrary to the decades of exchanges between museums. The museum believes that the media is not the appropriate forum to address unproven allegations and stands by its position on the matter.
