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Elizabeth Marlowe

@lizmarlowe.bsky.social
3.4K followers 1.7K following 91 posts

Art History & Museum Studies Prof. Ancient Rome, object biography, epistemology, museums, display, looting, provenance, forgery.

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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Yes it does look like it could be part of the 3 Graces! A facebok friend suggested Frozen Charlotte, but the quality of the modeling here is higher.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Help me internet! Found this little half figurine in my backyard. I think it’s porcelain? What would it have been??
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Colleagues, when you've asked museums for provenance info, did they a) answer your specific questions based on info they can see in the files, b) share selected docs from the files with you, c) share the complete file with you, or d) tell you they have no info beyond what's in the catalog/website?
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
So much to say about this severed relief of a severed head. The recursive, mise en abyme of violent fragmentations; the disorienting, central blank space that speaks to its misprision and misframing ... but the risk of increasing its $ value means I will not. www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...
christies.com
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
It looks a little too literal to me. Most fresco representations of Roman architecture have a lot more fantasy elements. And with so much well-documented, excavated fresco from the Pompeian region, why highlight something with no provenance?
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Great thread!
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
I'm only seeing the first post, not the other 9!
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Excellent thread!
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Banjo giving you her best come hither look.
Dog looking sexy
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
ISO narrative non-fiction books that braid together 3 separate story-threads (eg 3 different characters or 3 distinct chronological moments, etc). I know of many that do 2 (e.g. Devil in the White City with the murderer and the planning of the fair); am seeking a book that does 3! Recs? #Booksky
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Reposting mostly so I can find; this reading list would make for a great freshman seminar!
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
"thought to have adorned the floor of a bedroom in a Pompeii home" ... Would love to see a single comparandum for this.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
I'm skeptical.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Is anyone troubled by the fact that this is standard *fresco* imagery that has been translated to *mosaic*? That is a common practice of forgers (familiar iconography, fancier medium). Non-mythological erotic scenes in mosaics are extremely rare (I know of only 1 other example & it is questionable).
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
"Private English Collection, Thence By Descent": maybe the most non-informative provenance ever! Are they trolling us?
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Horrifying, but NYT fails to mention the sculptor's ties to the KKK and also the desecration this monument represents to the Lakota Sioux at what had been a sacred site. These facts should be part of the conversation whenever we talk about this monument. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Room for One More on Mount Rushmore? (The President Wants to Know.) (Gift Article)
Let’s review how we got here, and closely examine what the rock would allow.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
I keep thinking about why it failed so hard compared to the excellent Past Lives.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Huh! Would love a pdf.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
@rogueclassicist.bsky.social @artcrimeprof.bsky.social @museumofloot.bsky.social @davidwjgill.bsky.social
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Bubon fans: the Babesch organization kindly published the text of the talk I gave last month in Leiden about the looting and circulation of the statues, in which I also imagined how they might have been arranged and rearranged on the pedestals in antiquity. www.babesch.org/byvanck-lect...
babesch.org
The eighteenth Byvanck lecture – BABESCH
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Waiting for someone to say something about their enormous collection of Benin Bronzes (numbering something like 150, I believe?), whose rightful ownership was apparently not reconsidered at this opportune moment…?
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Obviously the seller has made a deeply unethical choice, but let's not overlook how unconscionable Sotheby's behavior is here too in agreeing to handle (and legitimize) this sale. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Buddha's sacred jewels head to auction - should they be returned to India?
Buddha’s sacred jewels, unearthed in 1898, head to auction at Sotheby’s, raising ethical concerns.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
I wrote something arguing something similar: cardozoaelj.com/from-excepti...
cardozoaelj.com
FROM EXCEPTIONALISM TO SOLIDARITY: THE RHETORIC OF THE CASE FOR THE PARTHENON SCULPTURES’ RETURN
Elizabeth Marlowe Volume 41, Special Issue
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... For a better model of how museums can discuss past wrongdoing, shifting ethics, and new understandings of their responsibilities to diverse stakeholders in their gallery spaces, see the recent example at the Asian Art Museum. exhibitions.asianart.org/exhibitions/...
exhibitions.asianart.org
Moving Objects: Learning from Local and Global Communities - Exhibitions - Asian Art Museum
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco houses one of the most comprehensive Asian art collections in the world, with more than 18,000 works of art in its permanent collection. Stroll through 6,000 year...
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... that claims to address the "legal and ethical aspects" of its collecting history, it should be ready to acknowledge its own mistakes honestly. Otherwise, it's just spin masquerading as transparency ... (11/12)
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... cultural property don't count and will be ignored unless U.S. law enforcement gets involved. It is also remarkable that the museum would characterize its decision to sue that law enforcement agency as "many months of productive discussion." If a museum is going to have a wall panel ... (10/12)
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... had "received no legal challenges to its ownership until 2023." But in fact, Turkiye has been asking for the statue's return since 2012. The implication of the museum's statement is that requests from sovereign nations for the return of their stolen ... (9/12) www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... for acquisition," that only reveals how out of step the CMA's standards were compared to all the other museums that took Inan's work seriously and said no to documented plunder. The "legal and ethical aspects" panel also states that the museum ... (8/12) hyperallergic.com/862516/cleve...
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... why none of those other museums had been willing to risk buying it. Yes, the seller might have "claimed to be the rightful owner," but everyone, including Cleveland, knew the truth, thanks to Inan's research. If the "reported modern history of the sculpture met the CMA's standards ... (7/12)
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... starting in 1979, that tied the thefts at Bubon to the statues that were circulating on the American market, including this Philosopher statue. Yes, for the 19 years that the statue was on the market, it had been "publicly exhibited in several other institutions," but there's a reason ... (6/12)
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... the CMA recognizes Inan's work, noting that it "remains fundamental to understanding Bubon and its statues" and even including a photo of her in the panel on the ancient city. But her research wasn't just about "how the statues were arranged atop the bases." It was her publications, ... (5/12)
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... quite unusual for how well-documented its illegal origins were. Unlike most looters, the ones at Bubon in 1967 had failed to keep their activities a secret, attracting the immediate attention of both Turkish police and Turkish archaeologists such as Jale Inan. It is lovely that ... (4/12)
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... in the United States, the seller claimed to be its rightful owner, and the reported modern history of the sculpture met the CMA standards for acquisition." This implies that there was nothing remarkable or questionable about this acquisition at the time. In fact, this statue was ... (3/12)
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
... that it was looted from the Roman shrine at Bubon. Hyperallergic quoted me in their story about the new installation; here's the much longer statement I gave them. One panel, on "Legal and Ethical Aspects," says: "The statue had been publicly exhibited in several other institutions ... (2/12)
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
This statue is back on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art for a few months before its July repatriation to Turkiye. Sadly, the CMA is STILL trying to spin the story, refusing to admit they knew all along ... (1/12) hyperallergic.com/1006670/a-lo...
hyperallergic.com
A Looted Greco-Roman Statue Goes on Display Before Its Return
After a months-long legal battle, the sculpture is on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art ahead of its repatriation to Turkey, with newly added context about its provenance.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Looking for a thoughtful essay comparing the current U.S. moment and the end of the Roman Republic. Anyone know of anything? I promised my Roman Art students something along these lines but all I'm finding are lots of facile pieces comparing Trump to Nero.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
correction: "never been the subject of a dispute" !
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
@artcrimeprof.bsky.social @chasingaphrodite.bsky.social
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
So yes, while it's great that the museum is finally returning the piece, don't be fooled by the suggestion in this press release that they only learned of the theft just now thanks to new research. www.metmuseum.org/press-releas...
metmuseum.org
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Hellenic Republic of Greece Announce the Return of Ancient Bronze Head of a Griffin - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
In this article from 2019, I reminded the Met that its bronze griffin head was stolen from the archaeological museum at Olympia. Their response (included at the end of the article) was simply to sniff that the head "has never been the object of a claim." www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/01/15/t...
theartnewspaper.com
The Met’s antiquated views of antiquities need updating
The new Greek and Roman curator at New York’s Metropolitan Museum should rejuvenate its displays with honest, better stories
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
It was first identified as looted by Jale Inan in her Istanbul Mitteilungen article from 1978.
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Thank you!
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Cleveland Museum of Art finally admitting what they knew all along and doing the right thing with their statue looted from Bubon manhattanda.org/manhattan-da...
manhattanda.org
Manhattan DA’s Office Announces Repatriation of Marcus Aurelius Statue to the People of Türkiye
“I am pleased the Cleveland Museum of Art agrees that this statue belongs to the people of Türkiye. This investigation included extensive witness interviews and forensic testing that proved conclusive...
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Is Adrian playing a role right now?
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Brilliant essay; well-worth your time. 10 out of 10. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
theguardian.com
‘The ghosts are everywhere’: can the British Museum survive its omni-crisis?
Beset by colonial controversy, difficult finances and the discovery of a thief on the inside, Britain’s most visited museum is in deep trouble. Can it restore its reputation?
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
credentials, but also because I am deeply sympathetic to Hicks' larger political aims. I was therefore especially attentive to Lunden's biting criticism of the book as "emblematic of the post-truth era, where emotion, oversimplified messages, and personal opinion take precedence over evidence."
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
scale of the violence. I also gullibly reproduced some of Hicks' errors in my own review of the book, which, while critical of its broad-brush characterization of contemporary museum practices, largely took his historical account on faith. I did so not only because of his impeccable academic... 2/3
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Important & meticulous corrective by Staffan Lunden on Dan Hicks' much-praised 2020 book _Brutish Museums_ about the 1897 looting of the Benin bronzes. I am among the many who uncritically accepted Hicks' unsubstantiated claims about the staggering ... 1/3 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Distorting history in the restitution debate. Dan Hicks’s The Brutish Museums and fact and fiction in Benin historiography | International Journal of Cultural Property | Cambridge Core
Distorting history in the restitution debate. Dan Hicks’s The Brutish Museums and fact and fiction in Benin historiography
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
Did you read the article?
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Elizabeth Marlowe @lizmarlowe.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
Weirded out by all these people who named their dogs after me
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