Hades\' head, a Greek Hellenistic masterpiece from Morgantina, Sicily - YOCOCU 2016 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid 21-23 Settembre 2016

On January 29, 2016 a Greek Hellenistic terracotta polycrome head representing Hades has been repatriated to Sicily from United States of America. In 2013 the J.P. Getty Museum announced the ‘voluntary’ return of the sculpture, after having verified its illicit provenance. In the Getty collection since 1985, the terracotta head was stolen in the late Seventies from Morgantina, the archaeological site in Sicily famous all over the world because of other important returns of stolen goods from USA: the archaic acroliths in Tempelsman collection (2009), the silver treasure in the collection of MET in NY (2010) and the ‘Getty Aphrodite’ (2011). The Getty Hades head was related to Morgantina after a research published in 2007 about some Greek terracotta votives in Aidone Archaeological Museum, where a little blue painted curl of Hades beard in the Getty collection was housed. So this blue curl in Aidone allowed to claim the repatriation of the head from USA. My presentation will focus on Hades’head history, from the theft to the return to Italy, considering that at the moment this event is in the spotlight of international press and scientific community.