Saturday 12 April 2008

Lucius Verus to go on Display in Rome

A batch of figure-decorated pottery looted from Etruscan tombs and a marble portrait of Lucius Verus (130-169 CE; co-emperor, 161-69 CE, with Marcus Aurelius) have been recovered from a "boat garage" at Fiumicino near Rome ("Italian police recover rare statue of 'shy' Roman emperor among stash of looted antiquities", International Herald Tribune, April 11, 2008). The portrait is thought to have been taken from a site in Campania.

Lucius Verus will be displayed in Castel Sant'Angelo along with a marble portrait of Faustina (d. 140 CE), wife of the emperor Antoninus Pius. Faustina had been stolen from the theatre at Minturno (Minturnae) in 1961 and had resurfaced in a North American private collection during the 1980s.
  • "Recuperate due sculture di età imperiale", Guardia di Finanza (Press Statement, April 11, 2008)
  • Portraits from Minturnae in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology [Review] [Exhibition]
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Guardia di Finanza

Another Bubon bronze head likely to be repatriated

It appears that a bronze head acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum from Nicolas Koutoulakis has been removed from display and appears to be...