Marion True
Marion True ( born November 5, 1948 in Tahlequah ) is an American classical archaeologist and was the curator of Ancient Art of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California.
She studied at New York University and Harvard University, where she received her doctorate in 1986. At times, she worked under Cornelius C. Vermeule III at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Since 1982 she worked at the Department of Antiquities of the J. Paul Getty Museum, since 1986 as its director. In September 2005, she put her post as curator of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
In 2005, she was indicted along with the American antiquities dealer Robert E. Hecht by the Italian Government and the illicit trade of stolen goods with national treasures.
The first indications arose in this case in 1995 while searching a camp by the Swiss judicial authorities in Geneva, Switzerland, where a custodian of stolen art objects was found. The Italian art dealer Giacomo Medici was arrested in 1997, he ran " one of the world 's largest and best-organized networks for the art market. He was responsible for illegal excavations and the disappearance of thousands, first-class archaeological finds, which he passed on to well-known addresses of the international art market. " Medici was convicted in 2004 in Rome to ten years imprisonment and a fine of ten million euros, " the largest fine which was ever imposed for illegal art trade in Italy ". The lawsuits against True and Hecht to take.
In a letter to the J. Paul Getty Trust on 18 December 2006 stated True that her the burden of responsibility for procedures has been transmitted, which were led by the Institution, the Getty 's Board of Directors and were tacitly approved. For the purchase of a grave gift, a golden wreath from Macedonia from the 4th century BC, True was also in Greece under indictment. However, the process ended without result, because the offense is time-barred under U.S. law since 1996. Moreover, a further process in Greece was pending, because antiques, True had in their vacation home on the island of Paros, without having declared them as the law provides for the protection of cultural heritage in Greece for private collections.
On November 20, 2006, Michael Brand, the director of the museum, the return of 26 disputed artifacts to Italy known.
On 26 September 2007, the J. Paul Getty Trust signed a contract with the Italian Culture Ministry in Rome on the return of 40 stolen ancient artefacts to 2010. Including an Aphrodite statue made of limestone and marble from the 5th century BC AD, stolen from Pompeii fresco paintings, marble and bronze sculptures and ancient Greek vases.
Marion True was " indirectly supporting illegal excavations receiving stolen goods and smuggling national treasures, to " indicted on 16 November 2005 in Rome due. Method for further, less serious crimes in rest in the day, but can be resumed at any time.
She is a member of the German Archaeological Institute.