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J.H. Merryman, a Stanford University law professor who specializes in cultural property, declares, "The misty-eyed romantic sophomores who contend that everything should go back because it is Greek or Turkish patrimony are irrational. Museums have a purpose. Collectors and dealers can be engaged in legitimate activity. The fact that a piece came from a particular country does not automatically give that country an overpowering right to it. It might be better taken care of, better displayed, seen by more people, in a museum in a different country."
His point is not idle, and many scholars would rush to defend it. Still, when an Etruscan tomb is emptied, a church desecrated, a Mayan temple bulldozed and a museum Vermeer yanked from its frame, it is hard to see how rich societies, let alone poor ones, can enjoy art in peace for long. In turning a blind eye to the canker that feeds on it, the art world is losing security, losing art and losing its soul.