1st Cent Marble Roman Bust Bought for $35 at Texas Thrift Store To Be Returned to Museum in Germany

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- 'An Ancient Roman Bust Purchased for $35 at a Texas Thrift Store Is Now Being Repatriated to Germany.' - Currently on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art, the sculpture will be returned to the Pompejanum in Germany later this year. Artnet News, April 18, 2023.

Five years ago, an eagle-eyed thrift store owner named Laura Young picked up what turned out to be an ancient Roman bust at a Goodwill in Austin, Texas. Now the sculpture is headed back to Germany, from where it last came.

The marble bust is believed to have been created in the late 1st century B.C.E. or early 1st century C.E. Though Italian in origin, the last-known record of the piece traces it back to the Pompejanum, a full-scale replica of a Pompeii villa commissioned in the 1840s by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Located in the German city Aschaffenburg, the Pompejanum faced heavy bombing during World War II. The site was restored and reopened in the 1960s, but by that time, or perhaps shortly after, the bust had disappeared. Some suspect it may have been taken by a U.S. soldier stationed in the area.

For the last year, the sculpture has been on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art, which has worked with Young and the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces to return the piece. The bust will be removed from display on May 21, after which time it will be repatriated to Germany. “Upon its return, the portrait will either go back on display in its original location at the Pompejanum in Aschaffenburg, or at the Munich Glyptothek with the rest of Ludwig I’s collection,” a spokesperson for the museum told Artnet News. The representative declined to comment when asked whether SAMA or the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces will pay for the sculpture’s shipping and insurance.

“It’s a great story whose plot includes the World War II era, international diplomacy, art of the ancient Mediterranean, thrift shop sleuthing, historic Bavarian royalty, and the thoughtful stewardship of those who care for and preserve the arts, whether as individuals or institutions,” said Emily Ballew Neff, SAMA’s director, in a statement last year. She called the museum’s work with the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces “a wonderful example of international cooperation. This is another critical way in which our art museums participate in diplomacy around the globe.”...https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ancient-roman-bust-texas-goodwill-repatriation-germany-2287242