This just in from the J. Paul Getty Trust’s press office—a joint statement announcing a tentative agreement with the Italian Ministry of Culture, forged today in Rome:
The Italian government will receive from the Getty a number of very significant objects, including several masterpieces. In return, as a sign of fruitful dialogue and collaboration among the parties, Italy will provide loans of objects of comparable visual beauty and historical importance.
The agreement, however, is aimed at far more: the parties acknowledged a shared commitment to the exchange and increase of knowledge, and look forward to extensive future collaboration, including joint exhibitions which will maximize the potential of the newly-renovated Getty Villa, the only art museum in the United States dedicated to the art and culture of ancient Italy and Greece.
The parties expect to conclude a final agreement, which will include mutual collaboration, research and the exchange of important antiquities, in the early summer.
“The final agreement must be developed and it will require the approval of the board of trustees,” according to Ron Hartwig, the Getty’s vice president for communications, who added that there would be “no further comment at this time.”
Can Marion True go home now?