The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities--From Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Greatest Museums

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Overview

The story begins, as stories do in all good thrillers, with a botched robbery and a police chase. Eight Apuleian vases of the fourth century B.C. are discovered in the swimming pool of a German-based art smuggler. More valuable than the recovery of the vases, however, is the discovery of the smuggler's card index detailing his deals and dealers. It reveals the existence of a web of tombaroli—tomb raiders— who steal classical artifacts, and a network of dealers and smugglers who spirit them out of Italy and into ...

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The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities-- From Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Greatest Museum

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More About This Book

Overview

The story begins, as stories do in all good thrillers, with a botched robbery and a police chase. Eight Apuleian vases of the fourth century B.C. are discovered in the swimming pool of a German-based art smuggler. More valuable than the recovery of the vases, however, is the discovery of the smuggler's card index detailing his deals and dealers. It reveals the existence of a web of tombaroli—tomb raiders— who steal classical artifacts, and a network of dealers and smugglers who spirit them out of Italy and into the hands of wealthy collectors and museums. Peter Watson, a former investigative journalist for the London Sunday Times and author of two previous exposés of art world scandals, names the key figures in this network that has depleted Europe's classical artifacts. Among the loot are the irreplaceable and highly collectable vases of Euphronius, the equivalent in their field of the sculpture of Bernini or the painting of Michelangelo. The narrative leads to the doors of some major institutions: Sothebys, the Getty Museum in L.A., the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York among them. Filled with great characters and human drama, The Medici Conspiracy authoritatively exposes another shameful round in one of the oldest games in the world: theft, smuggling and duplicitous dealing, all in the name of art.

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
What distinguishes this book from similar exposés about the illicit antiquities trade is the willingness of coauthors Peter Watson and Cecilia Todeschini to name names. Tracing a trove of priceless artifacts along a serpentine trail of greed and deception, they uncover a network of unscrupulous tomb raiders, smugglers, and dealers -- and a clientele that includes world-class cultural institutions, from Sotheby's to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Courageous journalism at its best, The Medici Conspiracy rips the lid off two scandals: the shameful looting of our shared archaeological heritage and the lamentable crisis of ethics in the art world.
Time Magazine
" . . . even the timing of this book is a work of art."
Publishers Weekly
In light of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's recent decision to return a rare-and by the Italian government's contention, stolen-vase painted by the Greek master Euphronios, Watson and Todeschini's colorful account of Giacomo Medici, an antiquities dealer found guilty of looting last year, and his illegal business dealings, is wonderfully prescient. Making sense of a lengthy catalogue of legal, artistic and forensic documentation, the authors meticulously map out Medici's underground network of middlemen and tombaroli, or tomb robbers, and link them to corrupt dealers such as Robin Symes as well as to established cultural institutions including Sotheby's, the John Paul Getty Museum and the Met-asserting that Medici supplied most, if not all, of the major collections of classical antiquities that have been established since WWII. Though Watson (Sotheby's: The Inside Story) and Todeschini often become overly indignant when decrying their story's villains and frequently bog down the narrative with long-winded dialogue and paper trail excerpts, they are at their best when chronicling the international adventures of various investigators, such as the Carabinieri Art Squad's raids on various Italian criminals to recover lost loot. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781586484385
  • Publisher: PublicAffairs
  • Publication date: 4/2/2007
  • Edition description: ANN
  • Pages: 448
  • Sales rank: 411,680
  • Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.20 (h) x 1.40 (d)

Meet the Author

Peter Watson writes for the New York Times and has written weekly columns on the art market for the London Sunday Times, Observer and Evening Standard. In June 1997, he was appointed Research Associate at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in the University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Caravaggio Conspiracy, From Manet to Manhattan,and Sotheby's: The Inside Story. Cecilia Todeschini is a researcher and translator who has worked for the BBC, ITV, CBS, ABC, and NBC. She has covered papal conclaves as well as the great mafia trials in Italy among many other subjects.

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Table of Contents


Authors' Note     vii
Prologue on Fifth Avenue     ix
Operation Geryon     1
Sotheby's, Switzerland, Smugglers     25
Connoisseurs and Criminals-the Passion for Greek Vases     33
Corridor 17     48
Forensic Archaeology in the Freeport     53
The Paper Trail, the Polaroids, and the "Cordata"     66
The Getty-the "Museum of the Tombaroli"     80
The Metropolitan in New York and Other Rogue Museums     100
"Collectors Are the Real Looters"     112
The Laundries of London and New York     135
Phone Taps and the Great Rumor     146
The Paris Raid on Robert Hecht     156
Raids in Zurich and Geneva, Arrest and Interrogations in Cyprus and Berlin     182
Interrogations in Los Angeles and Manhattan     203
The Puzzle of the "Orphans"     222
The "Cordata" Continues-in Egypt, Greece, Israel, and Oxford     230
The Fall of Robin Symes     248
The Woodcutter's Archive     265
The Trial of Giacomo Medici     269
Trading with Japan, Trials in Rome     284
Operation Eclipse     306
Conclusion: {dollar}500 Million + 100,000 Looted Tombs = Chippindale's Law     325
Epilogue on Fifth Avenue     353
Acknowledgments and Dedication     360
Dossier     361
Notes     384
Index     391
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 8 )
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Sort by: Showing all of 8 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 9, 2008

    A reviewer

    Wow! Some of the best non-fiction I have read. Professionals in the Arts or in Law, I encourage you to read this book. Professional ethics are linked with integrity, or the lack of it. I will never consider membership at any 'art' museum with a casual attitude again!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 9, 2012

    Haley

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 9, 2012

    Wgiyney

    No. Me and marc arm mad at each other and jave beennot talking for a week

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 2, 2012

    Great book

    I loved this book

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 9, 2012

    Toby

    How did u find me?

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 24, 2012

    UNH

    Unh, yeah, shes more than a women!!! Unh, Shes more than a girl. Unh, shes more than a women, she gonna rock my world!!!!!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 29, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 5, 2010

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