2024-11-19
An Italian court has ruled on the Doryphoros sculpture. The judge decided that the work must be returned to Italy because it was illegally excavated and stolen in the 1970s from an archaeological site near Pompeii. The marble depiction of the "spear-bearer" has been on display for almost four decades in the United States, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Doryphoros occupies a place of honour in the Minneapolis Institute of Art museum and is displayed in the rotunda on the second floor. The sculpture is almost two metres high (198.12 x 48.26 x 48.26 cm) and is a Roman marble copy of the original by Polycletus. The original was cast in bronze around 450-440 BC. The author introduced the principle of counterpoint into his work, and we can also see in the representation of the system of proportions created by the sculptor.
The marble representation was purchased in 1986 for 2.5 million dollars from Elie Borowski, a dealer. He claimed that the statue had been fished out of the seawater and had gone unnoticed for decades because it was in a private collection.
According to the New York Times, its perfect condition has always aroused suspicion among art experts, because if it had lain in seawater for many years, it would have been in much worse condition. In contrast, artefacts found in the area where the eruption of Vesuvius took place in 79 AD are usually in excellent condition. In May 2022, an Italian court ruled that the artwork must be returned to Italy because it was illegally excavated and stolen in the 1970s from an archaeological site near Pompeii. The Minneapolis Institute of Art says it has not yet been informed of the ruling, and that it will respond when it receives a letter to that effect.
If the statue is returned, it will be exhibited in a new one in Italy, the Libero D'orsi Museum, which will display objects recovered by Italian police dealing with the illegal art trade.