Any book whose first lines read, "it all began with a robbery, deep in the south of Italy," is sure to grab a reader's attention. The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities From Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Greatest Museums does just that and as the pages turn, the nonfiction novel delivers mass proof that many of the world's largest cultural institutions have their hand in the dealing of stolen antiquities.
The Plot
Recently, the Metropolitan Museum of Art made the decision to return to Italy a vase painted by the Greek master Euphronios that the Italian government has maintained as a stolen artifact. The vase had been acquired through the dealings of Giacomo Medici, an antiques dealer who has recently been found guilty of theft and looting. What follows is Watson and Todeschini's truthful account of how the Medici formed such an elaborate ring of tomb raiders and link the Medici to such infamous dealers such Robin Symes and prove that the pre-war collections of the Met, and even Sotheby's all hold artifacts that were in fact stolen.
Its Weaknesses
As interesting and fascinating the material of the book is, Watson and Todeschini weigh down the flow of the book by bogging it down with long-winded dialog and page after page of copies of papers that prove their point. It does get a bit tedious in parts, but the author's do a strong job of keeping the book informative and opening to the reader, the illicit world of tomb raiding and the dark side of large museums and collections.
Beyond the Medici Conspiracy
Many organizations reference The Medici Conspiracy. One of the most well-known organizations is S.A.F.E.: Saving Antiquities for Everyone. Professor Colin Renfrew, today's answer to Indiana Jones, references the book multiple times throughout the lecture that he holds at the Met annually. He uses it as a starting point for his hour-long lecture on how some of the world's largest collection (including his own employer - the Met) are mass hoarders of stolen artifacts.
For any budding art historian, or for those interested in stolen art, The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities From Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Greatest Museums serves at as a solid launching point to begin research into the illicit trade of artifacts and museum acquisitions. Despite the often slow moving and tedious passages, Watson and Todeschini deliver a complete and thorough job of bringing this often neglected and forgotten issue within the art world to the mainstream.
The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities From Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Greatest Museums is published by PublicAffairs and its ISBN number is 1586484389.
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