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The work Statue of a Young Boy was one of 44 pieces worth an estimated $2.7 million removed from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts last year. Investigators came to ask the museum to repatriate the artworks after identifying they had been stolen. READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
1987: “Major grave-robber” Mario Bruno sells an ancient Greek statue to Gianfranco Becchina. Statue of a Young Boy is photographed in the collection of Gianfranco Becchina, an antiquities trafficker in Basel.
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1989: Statue of a Young Boy appears in the art gallery of Frieda Tchakos, an art dealer who was later convicted of trafficking in 2002.
1989: VMFA’s Board of Trustees authorizes the purchase of Statue of a Young Boy on the advice of former ancient art curator Margaret Mayo. Provenance research for the statue ultimately stops at an anonymous Swiss friend, selling the statue in 1966 to an associate of Tchakos. The friend likely never existed.
2002: Frieda Tchakos is convicted of art trafficking.
2008: The American Association of Museum Directors adopts guidelines tightening rules around ancient art acquisition. Antiquities that were removed from their country of origin before 1970 now need to have detailed histories. Rules also require member museums to take steps to return stolen art.
2011: Italian authorities seize nearly 6,000 antiquities from Becchina. “All come from clandestine excavations conducted in Italy,” a judge wrote.
2013: An article in The Journal of Art Crime links Statue of a Young Boy to Gianfranco Becchina and Frieda Tchakos. The VMFA was made aware of the articles but said they did not provide enough evidence. VMFA does not contact Italian authorities as the guidelines recommend.
2023: VMFA is approached by investigators with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Investigators request records regarding the statue. The statue is returned on November alongside 43 other pieces.
“There were not one, but two cases,” said Christos Tsirogiannis, a forensic archaeologist at the University of Cambridge. “For 11 years. There is no excuse.”
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts full response to report on curators’ prior knowledge of issues with stolen art.
9 photos of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from The Times-Dispatch archives
01-23-1964 (cutline): Chandeliers lighting medieval hall weave elegant spell. The Council’s gift to the museum, they are used on special occassions.
01-09-1962 (cutline): John Sochko with scupture of St. Michael
12-30-1961 (cutline): William Gaines threads tape in machine at museum. Four machines pipe background music into galleries.
03-11-1964 (cutline): Robinson House is being renovated for use by Virginia Museum. Painters are completing work on the Former VISR headquarters.
06-27-1948 (cutline): Hans E. Gassman, who restores old paintings at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, removes grime and replaces chipped paint on ‘Portrait of a Scholar,’ by Ferdinand Bol.
06-28-1968: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
09-21-1963 (cutline): Leslie Cheeck Jr. (right), director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, explains the works of art of Artmobile II to D.G. Simpson of Winchester and Mrs. William C. Owen of Staunton. The two visitors to the mobile art gallery were among representatives of the 18 museum chapters who took part in the first week end workshop of the museum confederation. The chapter members heard talks by museum president Walter Robertson and Cheek and took part in small working groups where they learned about membership, handling of art kits, and the artmobile and museum programs. The current exhibition in the artmobile is Dragons and Dynasties: Art from China
11-22-1963 (cutline): Still Turning in his Grave Was the dreaded curse of King Tut at work again–in a weakened form–at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts last night?
08-11-1963 (cutline): Art Exhibit Visited. Since the world-famous Mellon collection of English art was put on display on April 19 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, there has been a steady, quiet flow of viewers through the large halls filled with priceless paintings. Every Sunday–as yesterday–long lines have formed, awaiting the opening of hte museum’s doors to spectators. Museum officials expect that by August 18, when the exhibit closes, a record of 70,000 will hae seen the paintings.
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