Chasing Aphrodite
@chasingaphrodite.bsky.social
Researching the illicit antiquities trade for two decades as an investigative reporter, author, blogger, tweeter, investigator, founder @MuseumofLoot and now...skeeter?
https://ChasingAphrodite.com/
https://MuseumofLoot.org/
https://AchillesResearch.org/
https://ChasingAphrodite.com/
https://MuseumofLoot.org/
https://AchillesResearch.org/
November 19, 2025 at 5:51 PM
By December 1976, Spink had found a solution: Martin Lerner, then a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, would arrange for the museum to pick up the statue.
After leaving the Met, Lerner worked as a consultant for Latchford, appraising newly excavated statues.
After leaving the Met, Lerner worked as a consultant for Latchford, appraising newly excavated statues.
July 25, 2025 at 3:32 AM
By December 1976, Spink had found a solution: Martin Lerner, then a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, would arrange for the museum to pick up the statue.
After leaving the Met, Lerner worked as a consultant for Latchford, appraising newly excavated statues.
After leaving the Met, Lerner worked as a consultant for Latchford, appraising newly excavated statues.
But the new letters from the Rockefeller family archives reveal a critical, previously unknown chapter: the Harihara's failed sale and its subsequent diversion through one of America's most powerful families.
July 25, 2025 at 3:29 AM
But the new letters from the Rockefeller family archives reveal a critical, previously unknown chapter: the Harihara's failed sale and its subsequent diversion through one of America's most powerful families.
A 1974 letter between executives of Spink & Son, a prominent London art dealer, details their efforts to sell the Harihara for $300,000 – approximately $1.8 million today – with a 25% cut for Spink and the remainder for the British antiquities trafficker Douglas Latchford.
July 25, 2025 at 3:28 AM
A 1974 letter between executives of Spink & Son, a prominent London art dealer, details their efforts to sell the Harihara for $300,000 – approximately $1.8 million today – with a 25% cut for Spink and the remainder for the British antiquities trafficker Douglas Latchford.
Relooted, one of the most anticipated video games of 2025, allows players to take stolen African artifacts from Western museums and return them to their home countries.
AJ+ talked to one of the creators...
www.instagram.com/reel/DMETOk6...
AJ+ talked to one of the creators...
www.instagram.com/reel/DMETOk6...
July 14, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Relooted, one of the most anticipated video games of 2025, allows players to take stolen African artifacts from Western museums and return them to their home countries.
AJ+ talked to one of the creators...
www.instagram.com/reel/DMETOk6...
AJ+ talked to one of the creators...
www.instagram.com/reel/DMETOk6...
I see your seraphim and raise you a seraphim
July 2, 2025 at 1:10 AM
I see your seraphim and raise you a seraphim
Anyone else catch the Roman dodecahedron in the background there?
Easter eggs galore....
Easter eggs galore....
July 2, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Anyone else catch the Roman dodecahedron in the background there?
Easter eggs galore....
Easter eggs galore....
Meanwhile, the villages of Asmat "felt as if they'd been stripped of something" when Hoffman visited for his 2014 article on Michael Rockefeller's disappearance:
May 31, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Meanwhile, the villages of Asmat "felt as if they'd been stripped of something" when Hoffman visited for his 2014 article on Michael Rockefeller's disappearance:
Rockefeller, collecting sacred objects on his Asmat expeditions: “This was one kind of object that seemed to me inviolate for the encroachment of western commercialism upon Asmat art.”
They’re now on display at the Met
They’re now on display at the Met
May 31, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Rockefeller, collecting sacred objects on his Asmat expeditions: “This was one kind of object that seemed to me inviolate for the encroachment of western commercialism upon Asmat art.”
They’re now on display at the Met
They’re now on display at the Met
Art Institute of Chicago director James Rondeau is under investigation after getting intoxicated and removing his clothes on a flight to Munich on April 18.
He is now on leave and his job in jeopardy as the museum investigates the incident.
news.artnet.com/art-world/ar...
He is now on leave and his job in jeopardy as the museum investigates the incident.
news.artnet.com/art-world/ar...
May 7, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Art Institute of Chicago director James Rondeau is under investigation after getting intoxicated and removing his clothes on a flight to Munich on April 18.
He is now on leave and his job in jeopardy as the museum investigates the incident.
news.artnet.com/art-world/ar...
He is now on leave and his job in jeopardy as the museum investigates the incident.
news.artnet.com/art-world/ar...
Here’s that map from Native Nations
May 5, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Here’s that map from Native Nations
The Papadimitriou family was also the source of a loan that the Getty's Marion True used to buy her vacation house on Paros. 🧐
March 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
The Papadimitriou family was also the source of a loan that the Getty's Marion True used to buy her vacation house on Paros. 🧐
From Chasing Aphrodite p 349
March 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
From Chasing Aphrodite p 349
The Met Museum is engaged in a major PR campaign to shake free of its reputation as a hoarder of looted art.
This week that campaign led to remarkably similar stories in America’s two leading papers touting the museum’s “proactive” efforts to address the problem.
Do the facts match the hype?
This week that campaign led to remarkably similar stories in America’s two leading papers touting the museum’s “proactive” efforts to address the problem.
Do the facts match the hype?
March 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
The Met Museum is engaged in a major PR campaign to shake free of its reputation as a hoarder of looted art.
This week that campaign led to remarkably similar stories in America’s two leading papers touting the museum’s “proactive” efforts to address the problem.
Do the facts match the hype?
This week that campaign led to remarkably similar stories in America’s two leading papers touting the museum’s “proactive” efforts to address the problem.
Do the facts match the hype?
Manhattan Deputy DA Matthew Bogdanos has inspired a troll account.
I recommend you don’t engage.
I recommend you don’t engage.
March 8, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Manhattan Deputy DA Matthew Bogdanos has inspired a troll account.
I recommend you don’t engage.
I recommend you don’t engage.
Money Laundering with Art: Former Sarkozy aide accused of taking Gaddafi bribe and attempting to conceal it through art purchases
Claude Guéant claims the €500,000 was from the sale of two paintings. Prosecutors say the works were sold by Christie’s for less than €20,000
archive.ph/r7jwB
Claude Guéant claims the €500,000 was from the sale of two paintings. Prosecutors say the works were sold by Christie’s for less than €20,000
archive.ph/r7jwB
March 3, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Money Laundering with Art: Former Sarkozy aide accused of taking Gaddafi bribe and attempting to conceal it through art purchases
Claude Guéant claims the €500,000 was from the sale of two paintings. Prosecutors say the works were sold by Christie’s for less than €20,000
archive.ph/r7jwB
Claude Guéant claims the €500,000 was from the sale of two paintings. Prosecutors say the works were sold by Christie’s for less than €20,000
archive.ph/r7jwB
WaPo: Experts are returning to Syria’s war-ravaged heritage sites, hoping to lay the groundwork for restoring them and reviving tourism, which they say could provide a much-needed boost to the country’s decimated economy after nearly 14 years of war.
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...
February 17, 2025 at 8:50 PM
WaPo: Experts are returning to Syria’s war-ravaged heritage sites, hoping to lay the groundwork for restoring them and reviving tourism, which they say could provide a much-needed boost to the country’s decimated economy after nearly 14 years of war.
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/20...
Fascinating and well researched backstory on these Getty mosaics
February 17, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Fascinating and well researched backstory on these Getty mosaics
Eiad Ghanem, head of the Syrian Association for the Management of Museums and Archaeological Sites, has called for the return of looted antiquities, halting all illegal excavations, and establishing an international fund to revive Syrian heritage and artifacts.
sana.sy/en/?p=347053
sana.sy/en/?p=347053
February 17, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Eiad Ghanem, head of the Syrian Association for the Management of Museums and Archaeological Sites, has called for the return of looted antiquities, halting all illegal excavations, and establishing an international fund to revive Syrian heritage and artifacts.
sana.sy/en/?p=347053
sana.sy/en/?p=347053
Especially hunting for looted art at my local museum…
February 4, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Especially hunting for looted art at my local museum…
Good reminder of art as refuge on the cover of this week’s New Yorker
February 4, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Good reminder of art as refuge on the cover of this week’s New Yorker
For those unfamiliar with Koutoulakis, he appears in the notorious "org chart" of the illicit trade seized from an Italian antiquities trafficker:
January 22, 2025 at 8:04 PM
For those unfamiliar with Koutoulakis, he appears in the notorious "org chart" of the illicit trade seized from an Italian antiquities trafficker:
Some things don't change:
Christie's is offering this "hitherto unpublished" kylix made by the "Rembrandt of ancient Greece" with a provenance linking it to a known antiquities trafficker, Nicolas Koutoulakis.
www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...
Christie's is offering this "hitherto unpublished" kylix made by the "Rembrandt of ancient Greece" with a provenance linking it to a known antiquities trafficker, Nicolas Koutoulakis.
www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...
January 22, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Some things don't change:
Christie's is offering this "hitherto unpublished" kylix made by the "Rembrandt of ancient Greece" with a provenance linking it to a known antiquities trafficker, Nicolas Koutoulakis.
www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...
Christie's is offering this "hitherto unpublished" kylix made by the "Rembrandt of ancient Greece" with a provenance linking it to a known antiquities trafficker, Nicolas Koutoulakis.
www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...
Getty Center in Brentwood, circled in blue below, now under mandatory evacuation as Palisades fire pushes north and east toward 405 Freeway
January 11, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Getty Center in Brentwood, circled in blue below, now under mandatory evacuation as Palisades fire pushes north and east toward 405 Freeway