Chasing Aphrodite. The Hunt For Looted Antiquities At The World's Richest Museum

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Fine
Jacket Condition: Fine
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publisher Place: Australia
Publisher Year: 2011
Edition: First Edition

Description: 375 pages. Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in Fine condition throughout.

Publishers Description: In recent years, several of Americas leading art museums have voluntarily given up their finest pieces of classical art to the governments of Italy and Greece. The monetary value is estimated at over half a billion dollars. Why would they be moved to such unheard-of generosity The answer lies at the Getty, one of the worlds richest and most troubled museums, and scandalous revelations that it had been buying looted antiquities for decades. Drawing on a trove of confidential museum records and frank interviews, Felch and Frammolino give us a fly-on-the-wall account of the inner workings of a world-class museum and tell the story of the Gettys dealings in the illegal antiquities trade. The outlandish characters and bad behavior could come straight from the pages of a thrillerthe wealthy recluse founder, the cagey Italian art investigator, the playboy curator, the narcissist CEObut their chilling effects on the rest of the art world have been all too real, as the authors show in novelistic detail. Fast-paced and compelling, Chasing Aphrodite exposes the layer of dirt beneath the polished façade of the museum business.

ISBN: 9780151015016