-Caveat Lector-
Here is the whole article...
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March 17, 2001
A Botticelli Wonder, Bypassing U.S. Museums
By CELESTINE BOHLEN
Had it not been for a lawsuit brought in California against the Vatican
Library in Rome, a much-coveted exhibition of 92 drawings by the Renaissance
master Sandro Botticelli illustrating Dante's "Divine Comedy," seven of
which belong to the Vatican, would be ending a three-month tour at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
But because of the Vatican's fear of exposing its drawings to legal claims
the exhibition never came to New York. Instead, it went to London, where it
opens today at the Royal Academy. "The arrival of this show in London is a
triumph of curatorial diplomacy for which British art lovers should be
grateful," trumpeted a preview in The Times of London this week.
"Thank the lord," said Norman Rosenthal, exhibitions secretary at the Royal
Academy, who for decades had been in pursuit of an exhibition of the
Botticelli cycle, which he described as "one of the divine meetings in the
history of Western culture."
Not that the British are gloating, but the Americans are certainly
chagrined. "As an institution, we are very disappointed," said Harold
Holzer, spokesman for the Metropolitan Museum. "This was something that was
extraordinary, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
The show, which originated last year at the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin
and moved later to Rome, unites the 92 extant drawings from Botticelli's
Dante cycle for the first time in 500 years.
Until 1993 the 85 drawings now at the Kupferstichkabinett were divided among
museums in East and West Berlin. Because of their sensitivity to light, they
are rarely exhibited, and the current tour is strictly limited. The
illustrations � of which four are in color and the rest are drawn in a faint
golden brown ink � offer "a breathtakingly intimate glimpse of Botticelli's
creative process," according to a December 1998 description of the proposed
show written by the Met's staff.
But in the spring of 1999 lawyers for the Met were told that the Vatican was
not willing to make loans to the United States for fear that the drawings
could get ensnared in the lawsuit pending in Federal District Court in
central California. As it turned out and as the Metropolitan said it learned
only this week, the lawsuit against the Vatican Apostolic Library was
resolved last August, said the library's Los Angeles lawyer, John
McNicholas.
"The lawsuit is over," Mr. McNicholas said. "I thought this Botticelli
exhibition had long been forgotten but at this point, I can see no reason
why the Vatican could not participate from a legal point of view."
The lawsuit centered on a controversial contract signed by the Vatican's
chief librarian and Elaine Peconi, a California businesswoman and onetime
holder of a master license for the sale of reproductions from the library's
collections. Among other things, the contract provided that all disputes
would be resolved by courts in California, which was the point on which Mr.
McNicholas said he thought the Vatican loan might be vulnerable. New York
lawyers, however, argue that artworks on loan to museums in New York are
protected from forfeiture under a 1968 law signed by Gov. Nelson
Rockefeller.
But Mr. McNicholas said he was not convinced. `'I was cautious, maybe too
cautious, maybe not," he said.
He said his advice was not influenced by the well-publicized seizure of two
paintings by Egon Schiele from the Museum of Modern Art in 1998 on a
subpoena issued by Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morganthau. Those
works were seized pending an investigation into claims by heirs of the
works' original owners, whose art collections had been seized by the Nazis.
The paintings had come to New York on a loan from the Leopold Foundation in
Vienna; one, "Dead City," was returned to Vienna after the New York State
Court of Appeals quashed Mr. Morganthau's subpoena in 1999.
The other Schiele painting, "Portrait of Wally," is still in storage at the
Museum of Modern Art, pending the outcome of a subsequent federal case
brought by Mary Jo White, the United States attorney in Manhattan, who has
argued that the painting is stolen property. That case was dismissed by
Judge Michael B. Mukasey of Federal District Court last July, but in
December he gave the federal prosecutors another chance to amend their
arguments. A final decision is expected this year.
The case has been closely watched by American museum officials, who worry
that foreign lenders will be wary of making loans to the United States. So
far, cases like the one involving the Botticelli drawings are rare.
Several museums, including the Metropolitan, have filed "friend of the
court" briefs in support of the Museum of Modern Art. They hold that museums
are not the proper place to resolve ownership disputes. "It is critically
important to reassure lenders that their art is safe in every respect in
American museums," said Stephen Clark, associate general counsel of the
Museum of Modern Art. "It is a fundamental right that they should be able to
get their art back."
When will the Metropolitan get another chance to lure the Botticelli
exhibition here? "I suspect it will be some years," said Mr. Rosenthal of
the Royal Academy. "Then it might be possible, after the drawings have
rested for a suitable period."
"Would we like to be able to do the show now, if all things were equal or
possible?" said Mr. Holzer. "Yes, of course, but there are so many
intangibles � the ability of the works to withstand another venue, the
gallery schedule at the Metropolitan � which make it wishful thinking." He
added, "it is hard to fathom another opportunity presenting itself."
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