According to the San Antonio Museum of Art, which is temporarily displaying the piece until it is returned to Germany next year, the bust, which art collector Laura Young discovered at Goodwill in 2018, once belonged in the collection of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
According to the museum, the ancient Roman bust dates to the first century B.C. or first century A.D., and historians believe it depicts a son of Pompey the Great, who was defeated in the civil war by Julius Caesar. The sculpture was last seen in Aschaffenburg, Germany, and experts believe it was taken by a soldier and brought to the United States, according to the museum. According to the museum, the work was identified by a Sotheby's consultant and authenticated further.
"We are overjoyed that a piece of Bavarian history that we thought had vanished has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful place," says the mayor "Bernd Schreiber, president of the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes, made the statement. Young described a few months of "intense excitement" after discovering the piece's history, which she discovered on the floor beneath a table at a Goodwill in Austin, Texas.
Young reached an agreement to return the bust to Germany with the assistance of an attorney who specializes in international art law, according to Austin radio station KUT. The terms of that agreement were kept private. "However, it was bittersweet because I knew I couldn't keep or sell the bust," she explained. "In any case, I'm glad I had the opportunity to be a small part of (its) long and complicated history, and he looked great in the house while I had him."
Selena Mattei