For many years, the megalopolis of New York has been one of the main hubs of international art trafficking. On Tuesday, August 8th, the New York district attorney for the Borough of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, announced the return of 42 works of art of great value to their country of origin, Italy, following a lengthy investigation.
The works returned to Italy include some very fine pieces dating back to Roman and Etruscan antiquity. Le Monde, for example, recounts the story of a vase from Apulia, dating from the 4th century BC, stolen from a site in southern Italy and then smuggled internationally by an Italian art trafficker. Several other works of art passed through the hands of renowned British art dealer, Robin Symes, who acted as an intermediary between the purveyors of works in Italy and the collectors interested in buying exceptional ancient works. The task was made more difficult by the existence of long-standing and highly organised networks of smugglers, as the prosecutor explained.
The estimated cumulative value of the 42 works of art returned, some of which date back more than 2,500 years, is estimated at $3.5 million.
The special role played by New York City can be explained by several factors: the existence of prestigious museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the presence of a wealthy clientele of collectors likely to be interested in rare and valuable pieces. The presence of international auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s also plays an essential role, as they can unfortunately be used to launder works stolen by unscrupulous dealers by providing them with traceability and certificates of authenticity.
The Manhattan public prosecutor’s office has been focusing on this traffic since 2017, with the aim of returning works looted mainly between 1970 and 1990 from all over the world but ultimately seized from museums and private collections in New York. District Attorney Bragg, who is overseeing the case, says he is proud to have been able to return no fewer than 1,000 works to countries as diverse as China, Egypt, Iraq, Greece, and Italy.
