Digging up The Leatherman: Conclusion

 The Leather man is a legendary figure in American folklore who spent six years from 1883 to 1889 walking a 365 mile loop from the lower Hudson valley to Connecticut wearing a 60 pound leather suit that he made. On the bases that his grave is too close to a road the Leatherman was dug up, excavated.

Much in keeping with the mysterious life he lead the grave produced dozens of coffin nails but no remains of the Leatherman. The nails along with the soil from the grave were placed in a new pine coffin and reburied with a boulder marked "The Leatherman".

The Leatherman was found dead in one of the caves where he took shelter in 1889.

Victorious Youth

 Fishermen found this Greek bronze statue of a youth in international waters in 1964 then they hid it in a cabbage patch in Fano, Italy before they sold it to someone who smuggled it out of the country where it appeared on the German art market in 1972 for $4 million.

The statue was later purchased for the Getty museum even though the museums founder J. Paul Getty had concerns over it's legal status. The now iconic statue is an important masterpiece which has it's own climate controlled room in the Getty villa at Pacific Palasades, California.

The Italian fisherman who found the statue have all since passed away without revealing the identity of who they sold it too and possibly smuggled the statue out of Italy. Interesting that the statue spent little time in Italy but that country wants it back.

In recent years the Getty museum has been functioning under critical eyes from foreign countries who believe many of the museums masterpieces were stolen. The Getty has as a result handed back dozens of the collections finest pieces while an important Greek kouros is most likely a forgery making this statue all the more important to the museum.

For know the Getty holds tight to what may be it's most important piece of ancient Greek art still in its collection. Sadly The Getty Museum came into its great wealth to acquire ancient art a century too late.

Digging up Mona Lisa

This may well be one of the worlds most famous woman though there is some doubt as to who she is with some believing she is Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo, A recent dig beneath the floor of the Saint Ursala convent in Florence has revealed bones and a skull that possibly belong to Ms. Giocondo.

There is some hope that the skull may be used to recreate what the lady looked like in life to see if there is a resemblance to the Mona Lisa.

Ginevra de' Benci by Leonardo da Vinci

This beautiful lady is Ginevra de' Benci who on this occasion was painted by the renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci in 1474 to commemorate her marriage at 16 to Luigi di Bernardo Niccolini? The painting was acquired in 1967 for The National Gallery of Art in Washington and is the only da Vinci in the America's.

The lower part of the painting has been trimmed possibly losing her hands in the process. On the back is a decorative inscription reading "VIRTUTEM FORMA DECORAT".

"Beauty adorns virtue"

The Return of Aphrodite

Here we have the famous marble and limestone statue of Aphrodite bought by the J. Paul Getty museum in 1988 for $18 million despite there was some evidence that the statue had been illegally smuggled out of Italy. After many years research experts are unable to point to its find spot though the statues limestone elements come from a quarry close to the 5th century bc Greek settlement of Morgantina on the island of Sicily.

Now the Getty has returned the statue back to Italy where it is now displayed in the Aidon museum close to the Morgantina archaeological site in Sicily. The serious negotiations for the statue began after the Getty's former curator Marion True was indicted in an antiquities smuggling scandal resulting in the return of many smuggled artifacts from a number of museums.

Photo: Associated press

The Return of Maori Heads

A natural history museum in Rouen France has handed over it's Maori head back to New Zealand officials. The return is the first of sixteen heads being handed over by french institutions to be repatriated and reburied.

The head was collected more than 130 years ago when Maori warriors were in danger of being killed for their tattoo's. The fear of handing over human remains is that the precedent will be set for the return of human remains including Egyptian mummies.

UPDATE:
In a ceremony in late January 2011 the remaining heads in French collections were returned under black cloth to the Maori people of New Zealand.

Digging up The Leatherman

The Leather man is a legendary figure in American folklore who spent six years from 1883 to 1889 walking a 365 mile loop from the lower Hudson valley to Connecticut wearing a 60 pound leather suit that he made. On the bases that his grave is too close to a road there is a plan to dig his grave up and remove his remains to another plot in the Ossining's Sparta cemetery.

There is of course many who believe Leatherman should be left alone.