The J. Paul Getty Museum announced Thursday that it will return several objects to Italy after discovering they were illegally excavated.
On the return list is the Sculptural Group of a Seated Poet and Sirens, also known as Orpheus and the Sirens.
Per Getty’s policy to return stolen or illegally excavated items back to their country of origin or modern discovery
the museum has removed the extremely fragile, life-size terracotta figures from public view and will transport them to Rome in September.
There, the Orpheus sculptures will join collections designated by the Ministry of Culture. The Getty and independent scholars also determined it is appropriate to return the following items
“Thanks to information provided by Matthew Bogdanos and the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicating the illegal excavation of Orpheus and the Sirens
we determined that these objects should be returned,” Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle director of the Getty Museum, said in a news release.