MFA returns art to Italy, paves way for collaboration

Flanked by 13 objects that were part of the Museum of Fine Arts collection until last week, MFA director Malcolm Rogers yesterday signed an agreement in Rome with Italian officials to return the works and establish a new process to make sure the museum doesn't purchase stolen art in the future.

In exchange, Italy will loan the MFA objects from its vast holdings of antiquities, and establish a partnership that calls for future collaboration on conservation, study, and archeology. The first loans could be announced as early as November, when Francesco Rutelli, the Italian minister of culture, visits Boston.

``Obviously, everybody regrets to say goodbye to something from their collections, but the theme to our meetings was to find out what was the right place for the objects," said Rogers. ``Both sides were looking for the truth."

Rogers stopped short of confirming that the objects had been obtained illegally, but said ``the preponderance of evidence suggested that they were more appropriately owned by Italy than the MFA."

Two of the works returned -- a marble statue of Sabina, the wife of Emperor Hadrian, sold to the MFA by a Swiss dealer in 1979, and an 8-3/16 - inch oil flask originally purchased by accused art smuggler Robert E. Hecht -- were on display at the MFA until earlier this month.

Three of the objects were gifts from now-retired curator of classical antiquities Cornelius C. Vermeule III. Vermeule, who worked closely with Hecht before retiring in 1996, did not return a call to his Cambridge home yesterday.

At a press conference yesterday, Rutelli unveiled the Sabina with a dramatic flourish, pulling a sheet off the 6 1/2 - foot statue. In October, all of the works, 11 of which are vases, will be displayed at the Museo Nazionale Romano.

``It's not about the number of objects," said Maurizio Fiorilli, the government lawyer in charge of Italy's case. ``[It's that] cultural heritage should be respected. The important question for these museums is, `Who sold it to you?' "

The deal mirrors one made by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York earlier this year, in which the Met agreed to return a 2,500-year-old Greek bowl called the Euphronios krater, among 20 other objects. But there is a notable difference. The Met deal required specific works in exchange. The MFA arrangement is looser, and simply establishes the partnership.

``It's much more collaborative," said Malcolm Bell, a University of Virginia archeologist who leads excavations in Sicily. ``The fact that Boston's established better and cordial relations with Italy because of this, that will certainly benefit the museum in the future."

Rogers said the MFA expects to get loans from Italy for a show of 16th-century Venetian art planned at the MFA in 2009.

``Important to us was making sure we do our bit to end the looting of archeological sites and establish a relationship that works," said Rogers. ``Not to say, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. That's not the spirit in which this was done."

With the signing, the MFA has agreed to contact the Italian government anytime it plans to acquire an antiquity from that country, Rogers said.

Accusations against the MFA date to 1998, when the Globe detailed the MFA's history of acquiring antiquities with no provenance, or ownership history, a strong indicator that the works had been looted. The claims from the Italian government were strengthened by evidence gathered during a series of raids, in 1995 and 2000, of properties owned by Hecht and convicted art smuggler Giacomo Medici.

MFA objects were seen in photographs of works that looters used to document illegal digs in ancient tombs during the 1970s. The Italian officials have said that many of the dirt-encrusted objects in the photos ended up in major museums, including the MFA, after being scrubbed clean and passed through dealers.

The Met and J. Paul Getty Museum have already agreed to return works.

Not everyone is happy with the MFA's decision to return items.

Royal-Athena Galleries owner Jerome Eisenberg, who sold the MFA an object returned yesterday, said he bought the vase from Sotheby's in the 1980s and had no way of knowing whether it had been stolen. He's still not convinced.

``None of these are monumental works of art, and what fuss are [Italian audiences] going to make about this vase?" said Eisenberg. ``Far more people will see it at the MFA."

Ricardo J. Elia, a Boston University archeology professor who is an expert on documentation of Italian antiquities, said that he's pleased with the arrangement. He hopes that the MFA will now be more careful when acquiring objects.

``Frankly, it's unlikely you're going to have many cases like this in the future with the type of evidence they have," said Elia. ``I worry that the MFA just wants to get past this bump and get back to business as usual. Let's hope that's changing."

Susanna Pinto reported from Rome for this story. Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.