An Italian court Thursday ordered the J. Paul Getty Museum to repatriate a priceless bronze statue, but the prestigious Los Angeles institution vowed to fight what it called a “flawed” ruling. Judge Lorena Mussoni ordered the confiscation of the fourth-century BC “Victorious Youth,” also known as the Getty Bronze, following a long-running dispute over whether the museum obtained it illegally. The Getty said it would “vigorously defend” its ownership of the statue, which it bought at auction in 1974 for nearly $4 million. Former culture minister Francesco Rutelli, who spearheaded Italy's efforts to recover the work, said Thursday's verdict was of “historic importance, ending the era of looting our archeological heritage.” The work, considered one of the greatest bronze statues to survive from ancient Greece, is attributed to Lysippos, one of the three leading sculptors of the period. The lifesize statue, allegedly smuggled out of Italy, resurfaced 10 years after Italian fishermen found it in the sea off the Adriatic coast in 1964. The Getty, set up by US oil billionaire and collector John Paul Getty and one of the world's richest art museums, insists it never knowingly bought illegally uncovered artefacts. Its endowment was valued at $4.5 billion in 2009.
