N.Y. Philanthropist Agrees to Return Artifacts to Italy

Shelby White, a New York philanthropist and art collector, has agreed to return 10 classical antiquities to Italy after 18 months of negotiations with Italian officials, reports The New York Times.

The Italian culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, contends that the works were looted from Italy before coming into Ms. White’s possession. He called her decision to return the objects without any compensation “a generous and open-minded gesture.”

Ms. White maintains that she and her deceased husband, Leon Levy, bought their artifacts in good faith without any knowledge of improper excavation. Italian government officials have not threatened Ms. White with prosecution.

While nine of the 10 ancient Greek and Etruscan objects have already been delivered to the Italian Consulate in New York, a rare fifth-century B.C. Greek vessel will not be returned to Italy until 2010. Although Italy has brokered deals over possibly looted artifacts with museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum, in Los Angeles, Mr. Rutelli said the deal with Ms. White was the first negotiation with a private collector in the United States. When asked whether Italy would continue to pursue private collectors, Mr. Rutelli said, “The coming year will be full of surprises.”

Ms. White sits on the Met’s board of trustees and gave $20 million to finance the Met’s expanded wing of Greek and Roman art that reopened last year. She is also the lead trustee of the Leon Levy Foundation, which made a $200-million gift of cash and real estate to New York University to finance a new Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

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