Sharon Waxman

It takes a lot to interrupt my writing silence, but today’s article by Kim Murphy in the L.A. Times makes it necessary. Kim managed to gain access to the basement of Iran’s contemporary art museum where, she informs us, the most important collection of impressionist and modern Western art outside the West is stored, though…

This picture ran in today’s International Herald Tribune and many other newspapers, and it moved me deeply. It shows the great-nephew of Jean-Marie Lustiger, the esteemed Archbishop of Paris, placing dirt from Israel on the coffin of the archbishop, in front of Notre Dame de Paris, the cathedral where he was later laid to rest.…

As I reported here over a week ago, Marion True’s woes are about to subside, because of the agreement between Italy and the Getty for the museum to return 40 objects that Italy says were looted. Bloomberg News reports today that both Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli and state prosecutor Maurizio Fiorilli say that the civil…

This is kind of cool. Someone called Marshal Zeringue is hosting a blog that encourages reading, in part by asking writers what they are looking at these days. So, he asked me, and I answered. It’s here: http://whatarewritersreading.blogspot.com/2007/08/sharon-waxman.html, and the rest of blog is pretty interesting too. Marshal writes, as I guess he does regularly…

And so this little experiment draws to a close. I am heading to a quiet place to begin writing in earnest, and will not be posting regularly in this space. I have much enjoyed sharing my discoveries and adventures with you across the ancient world, and have been very gratified by your supportive responses. I…

I’m a little slow on the uptake on this blogospherical world. Tyler Green at Modern Art Notes took issue earlier this week with my post on Marion True, and called my analysis of her public humiliation inaccurate. But it is Green, in fact, who is factually inaccurate, as he cites the loan for her house…

ROME — You might think that it is difficult to meet a bona fide antiquities smuggler. It is not. Giacomo Medici, convicted here of smuggling and sentenced to 10 years in prison and a 10 million Euro fine, was perfectly happy to meet me and explain his view of the world. Medici, for those who…

When Maurizio Fiorilli told me Monday that he was close to an agreement with the Getty on the 52 disputed items in their collection, I didn’t imagine that they were this close, though he did have a fax from Getty director Michael Brand on his desk with a review of the draft agreement. Today, Elisabetta…

ROME – Marion True’s trial may soon be over, I was told yesterday by Maurizio Fiorilli, one of two state prosecutors leading the case, who is also the man negotiating bilateral accords on restitution with American museums. The two issues are linked. He said he is close to an agreement with the Getty over the…

Here’s a very good example of the difficulties posed when you start trying to reset the historical clock, and right old wrongs. This is the famed Piazza Navona in Italy, home of Bernini’s sculpted masterpieces. The  central monument, the Four Rivers Fountain, represents no fewer than three different epochs: Egyptian, Roman and Pontifical. A description…

Schultz, that is, who I hope is reading along. Howard, dearest: Starbucks in Egypt. Starbucks in Turkey. Starbucks in Greece. Now I’m in Rome: No Starbucks! I’m beginning to worry about you guys. 

COLYBITHRES, Paros – Everyone should see Colybithres; the world would be a calmer place. It is a cove facing the town of Naoussa on the island of Paros, accessible mainly by boat, a noisy junk that for $3 motors you across to paradise. Along the way, the Aegean is bright blue beneath the prow, a…

I spoke briefly by phone yesterday to Marion True, the former Getty curator now dangling in the legal winds in Italy and Greece. And I spoke at great length to her friends, dotted around the island. Every story has two sides. Yesterday I heard the story of a much respected, widely beloved scholar who devoted…

PAROS, Greece – The sun is quickly sinking over the bay of Paros, a honey-orange ball easing its way beyond the undulating hillside of this island. The light has cast a pinkish hue over the water, while a huge ship – Blue Star Ferries – slides into the port, with tourists mainly eager to mount…

Quick word of thanks to you readers who have been so responsive to and supportive of this blog. Coincidentally, several of you wrote in today to ask me to include friends’ emails on the bloglist, which of course I’m delighted to do. Hopefully I’m doing something right. Tonight I was at the opening of a…