BlogBack: Christian Kleinbub Takes the Getty’s Side (Again)

Christian Kleinbub, assistant professor of art history at Ohio State University, in his second CultureGrrl BlogBack (the first one is here), responds to: Should the “Getty Bronze” Go Back to Italy?:
Although an outspoken proponent of the opposite viewpoint, I want to compliment you on the thoughtfulness of your long-awaited post considering the ownership of the Getty Bronze.
But if the Getty is said to be arguing for ownership of the Bronze by means of legal technicalities, the Italians have been doing so as well. To my mind, the Italian “moral argument” amounts to little more than an extremely ambitious legal ownership claim made over the failure of Italian citizens to obtain a suitable permit for the export of a piece of private property. It is unclear to me whether this qualifies as a moral offense or an everyday infraction. I think it fair to say that the return of the Bronze would represent little more than the fact that the Getty had succumbed to a failure in a public relations battle with Italy.
I think we ought to keep our eyes focused on the damage that might be done by the restitution of the Bronze over a technicality: Without the Getty Bronze, the Getty Villa would be denuded of its most essential and defining work.