June 21, 2012 – Dr. Jerome M. Eisenberg, founder and director of Royal-Athena Galleries in New York, was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy and the title of Ufficiale (Officer) bestowed upon him by the President of the Republic of Italy, the Hon. Giorgio Napolitano. He was decorated by the Consul General, the Hon. Natalia Quintavalle, at a ceremony at the New York Consulate celebrating Italian National Day on June 2, 2012. The Order of the Star of Italy is bestowed upon those who have provided a meaningful contribution to the prestige of Italy while promoting friendly relations and cooperation between Italy and other countries.
IADAA Member Jerome M. Eisenberg Honored by the President of Italy.
Dr. Eisenberg was the founder in 1990, publisher, and Editor-in-Chief from 1990 to 2009 of Minerva, the international review of ancient art and archaeology, in which he wrote and published many lengthy articles on Italian museums and exhibitions of Italian antiquities in the United States and Europe in addition to numerous articles and notices on stolen and illegally excavated Italian antiquities. He has voluntarily cooperated in returning a number of valuable antiquities illicitly excavated in Italy and assisted in the restitution of several objects removed from Italian museums.
Dr. Eisenberg is a renowned expert on Italian antiquities and their forgeries, especially Etruscan bronzes and Roman marbles, and has lectured widely and written extensive articles on these subjects for Minerva, two of which were published in the Italian journal Archeo in 2007 and 2008. Having lectured on forgeries in ancient art at New York University as early as 1969, he was a Visiting Professor on this subject at the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the University of Leipzig in 1996.
Dr. Eisenberg has been a leader for many years in the promotion of the ethical acquisition of antiquities by museums and collectors and has delivered papers on this subject at a number of international congresses and meetings. He gave an address on this topic by invitation at the UNIDROIT Convention in Rome in 1993. A founding member of the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art, he served on the Executive Board from 1993 to 2002 and organized two symposia for them in New York – in 1994 on ‘public policy and the movement of antiquities’ and in 1998 on the ethical acquisition of antiquities. Over the past 58 years he has been elected an Honorary Fellow, Fellow for Life, Patron, Benefactor, and Life Member of numerous American and international organizations and museums.