Dietrich von Bothmer, about 1980 (photo courtesy of Metropolitan Museum)
The Art History Newsletter reports that Dietrich von Bothmer, 90, the Metropolitan Museum’s former chairman of Greek and Roman art, has died. He enriched the museum’s collection during an earlier era of antiquities collecting practices that was characterized by “don’t ask, don’t tell” when it came to issues of provenance.
He was perhaps best known for his involvement in the acquisition under Tom Hoving‘s directorship of the celebrated Euphronios krater, which the Met recently relinquished to Italy.
At the time of his death, von Bothmer held the Met title of “distinguished research curator” of Greek and Roman art and was also a lecturer at the NYU Institute of Fine Arts.
Thanks to the Met, I’ve updated this post with the above photo.