Bogus story: Cleveland Museum of Art not returning works to Italy

By Pete Kotz on Tue, May 13, 2008 at 5:31 am

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Countries are demanding works be returned -- whether they have proof they were stolen or not.

Last Friday, officials at the Cleveland Museum of Art were shocked to see numerous wire stories reporting that they had agreed to give back 16 artworks to the Italian government. The problem with the article: The story is completely false. As Scene reported in March, the Italian cultural ministry is on a mission to retrieve hundreds of works it believes were stolen from Italy. For years, most American museums simply laughed at requests like these. But they were forced to rethink their stance a few years ago when evidence surfaced that Robert Hecht, one of America’s most prodigious art dealers, had been selling pieces looted from Italy…