Results tagged “philippedemontebello”

After an eight month-long search, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced that one of its own curators will succeed outgoing director Philippe de Montebello. Thomas P. Campbell, 46, is Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (and Supervising Curator of the Antonio Ratti Textile Center) and mounted the successful Tapestry in the Renaissance and Tapestry in the Baroque shows. Met Board of Trustees chairman James R. Houghton said of Campbell, "He is a distinguished art historian and outstanding curator, who is an ardent advocate for scholarship, connoisseurship, and the highest museum standards, as well as a solid manager and diplomat accustomed to preparing all facets of major exhibitions." And de Montebello, who will step down at the end of the year, said, "Tom Campbell, in my view, is absolutely the right selection."

The NY Times reports on a farewell of sorts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this weekend. The Euphronios krater, a 2,500-year old vessel, will depart its home for nearly 30 years on Sunday and make a trip to Italy, where that country's government has been vying for the piece.

The krater, a Greek bowl for mixing water and wine, will be sent to Italy as part of an agreement reached nearly two years ago with that country’s government, which has long contended that the artifact was illegally excavated from a tomb in Cerveteri, near Rome. The Met bought the krater in 1972 for $1 million from Robert Hecht, an antiquities dealer who is now on trial in Rome on charges of conspiring to traffic in looted artifacts. (Mr. Hecht denies the charges.)

The agreement also requires 20 other (apparently looted) objects be returned to Italy, and in return Italy is lending the Met some rare ceramics, which have been brought in slowly over the past two years. A few of these pieces have ties to the krater and its artist, Euphronios, though none are on par with the 515 BC-dated piece, which is considered one of the finest Greek vases in existence.

Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for three decades, has announced his retirement; he’ll be leaving as soon as a successor is found. The 71-year-old French born Harvard graduate called it a “wrenching” decision but finally concluded that “to stay much further would be to skirt decency.”