Two sides of Marion True *

Sharon Waxman of the NYT bureau here continues to blog about her book research around the Mediterranean (with a stop for a swim on the Greek island of Paros.) Her post empathizing with embattled ex-Getty antiquities curator Marion True is panned today by Tyler Green of Modern Arts Notes:

Waxman's post is a surprising, strange woe-is-True lament, full of treacly passages such as:

It is a tragic tale, however you slice it: either the insidious corruption of a Harvard-educated, lover of history by the prevailing norms of a see-no-evil antiquities trade. Or the public crucifixion of a competent curator who played by the rules -- and the rules lived in a grey zone -- and then found herself in the cross-hairs when the rules changed to black and white.

Except that's not true. True played outside the rules...Waxman may feel True's pain all she likes, but she's factually incorrect. True broke the rules. Repeatedly. No "grey zone" there.

Waxman's book on looted antiquities will end up competing with the book being written by former Times reporter Ralph Frammolino and current LAT staffer Jason Felch.

* Even more True: Waxman posts from Rome that the Italian prosecutor is using the charges against True to pressure the Getty, and says she will likely serve a negotiated sentence of two to three years.