Prompt in Theory and Delay in Practice: a case study in museum ethics

This article investigates the long-delayed repatriation of an Attic red figure volute krater attributed to the Methyse Painter, returned to Italy from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, that belies the guidelines of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) for North American museums found to have acquired illicit material. I will introduce the antiquity in question and analyse those involved in its traficking, acquisition and repatriation, working through the case chronologically to emphasize the differences between theory and practice in museum ethics.