Venus of Cyrene May Return to Libya

Italian Renaissance Artists: A - L	Italian Renaissance Artists: M - Z	Italian Renaissance Movements/Periods	Other News in Art	Glossary of Terms
Contemporary Abstract Art	Elegant Fireplace Screens	Oil Painting Reproductions	Sculpture Reproductions	Fine Art Puzzles

Find out how and why you should buy your
oil painting reproductions from Fine Art Touch.

Court Rules That Venus of Cyrene Should Be Returned to Libya

Venus of Cyrene
Roman copy
of a Greek original
2nd c. BCE, marble,
National Roman Museum,
Rome, Italy

Click hereto see our
fine art reproductions.

ROME - 04/24/2007 - An Italian tribunal court ruling on Monday determined that the famous Venus of Cyrene is not part of Italy's cultural heritage and should therefore be returned to Libya. The headless statue of the Venus of Cyrene was originally located in the town of Cyrene, part of an ancient Greek colony in Hellenistic times more than 2 millennia ago. The Venus of Cyrene is a Roman copy of a Greek original thought to be carved by Praxiteles. It was taken by Italian troops in 1912 for display in Rome.

A promise was made to Muammar Gaddafi in 2002 by Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to return the Venus of Cyrene to Libya. The move was blocked however by "Our Italy," a group who aims to retain ownership of Italy's cultural treasures.

There has been much talk about looted works of art in the news in recent years with the return of items of Nazi stolen art to the families of their rightful owners. It is felt by some that Italy is being systematically looted of its 'naturalized' artistic heritage, many of which works which were originally taken by the Roman Empire as they conquered and assimilated new territories.

Some concern has been expressed by Fabio Rampelli, Italy's National Alliance deputy, that the Venus not "suffer the same fate" as the renowned Axum Obelisk, an ancient relic from former Abyssinia, confiscated by Mussolini's troops in 1937. Rampelli states that the obelisk was returned to Ethiopia only to be 'abandoned on a rooftop.' The ancient Axumite kingdom was the home of the legendary Queen of Sheba during the time of the biblical King Solomon.

Brenda Harness, Art Historian

For more information on Italian Renaissance Art and book recommendations, click here.

QUOTE
OF THE
WEEK

"Practise what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know."

-Rembrandt van Rijn

Thank you for visiting
Fine Art Touch!

Please come again soon!

Welcome !

Home

◦	Sale Items

Italian Renaissance Art

◦	Most Famous Artists
◦	Periods/Movements
◦	According to Vasari
◦	Nero's Golden House
◦	Artist Listing: A - L
◦	Artist Listing: M - Z

Art Patronage

◦	Italian Renaissance Courts
◦	Este Court of Ferrara
◦	Gonzaga Court of Mantua
◦	The Rise of the Medici
◦	Lorenzo de' Medici/Early
◦	Lorenzo de' Medici/Late

Trecento (Proto-Renaissance)

◦

Giotto

Early Renaissance

◦	Fra Angelico
◦	Brunelleschi
◦	Masaccio
◦	Tribute Money
◦	Holy Trinity
◦	Ghiberti
◦	Donatello
◦	David
◦	Gattamelata
◦	Ghirlandaio
◦	Luca della Robbia
◦	Uccello
◦	Piero della Francesca
◦	Castagno
◦	Fra Filippo Lippi
◦	Pollaiuolo
◦	Mantegna
◦	Melozzo da Forli
◦	Perugino
◦	Verrocchio
◦	Botticelli
◦	Botticelli's Model, Simonetta Vespucci
◦	Cestello Annunciation

High Renaissance

◦	Leonardo
◦	Leonardo Timeline
◦	Verrocchio's Studio
◦	Annunciation to the Virgin
◦	Last Supper
◦	Mona Lisa
◦	Where Is The Real Mona Lisa Now?
◦	Da Vinci's Notebooks
◦	Vitruvian Man
◦	Portrait of Ginevra de'Benci
◦	Yarn Winder Madonna
◦	Madonna & Child w/St. Anne
◦	Great Bronze Horse
◦	Raphael
◦	School of Athens
◦	Transfiguration of Christ
◦	Miraculous Draught of Fishes
◦	Prophet Isaiah
◦	Madonna of the Chair
◦	Rivals Raphael vs Michelangelo
◦	Raphael Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici, Renaissance Prince
◦	Michelangelo
◦	Michelangelo Timeline
◦	David by Michelangelo
◦	Last Judgment
◦	The Pieta
◦	The Medici Tombs
◦	Correggio
◦	Andrea del Sarto

Venetian Renaissance

◦	Venetian Painting Technique
◦	Jacopo Bellini
◦	Carpaccio
◦	Titian
◦	Venus of Urbino
◦	Danae & the Shower of Gold
◦	Sacred and Profane Love

Mannerism

◦	Parmigianino
◦	Bronzino
◦	Giulio Romano
◦	Cellini
◦	Saltcellar of Francis I
◦	Cellini's Saltcellar Found
◦	Tintoretto
◦	Arcimboldo

Published Articles

◦	The Face That Launched A Thousand Prints
◦	Renaissance Humanism, Embraced Then Rejected
◦	Women As Edible Art
◦	Botticelli, The Dark Side of Art
◦	For That Knee Alone
◦	Cellini's Autobiography
◦	What Nero Did For You

About Us

Press Releases

◦	Fine Art Touch Website Launched on 09-29-2006
◦	Fine Art Reprodutions Now Available - 11-26-2006