After Sicily unexpectedly announced this month that it wanted the return of a traveling exhibition of its ancient treasures because their absence was hurting tourism, resulting in the cancellation of the show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, for a moment it seemed that a compromise was possible when the announcement was followed by another saying both sides were in talks to try to reach a settlement and allow the exhibition to go on. The show, which was scheduled to open in Cleveland in September after its current run at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, might go on, Sicilian officials suggested, if Cleveland could help soften the financial loss. As it turns out, they made an offer that Cleveland could refuse.
On Wednesday the museum said it had declined to pay additional fees for the exhibition, “Sicily: Art and Invention Between Greece and Rome.†“To announce all new economic terms after the exhibition has been organized, cataloged and shipped is unprecedented and negotiations over this development have to date been unsuccessful,†the museum’s director, David Franklin, said in a statement. “We are very disappointed not to be able to share this exhibition with our visitors, but at this point we must turn our attention to developing new plans for the fall.â€
