A leading expert on looted antiquities is calling for the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to return a Roman fresco fragment to Italy, claiming he has evidence that links the piece to a notorious dealer. Prof Christos Tsirogiannis has a photograph of the same fresco fragment from the archive of Robert Hecht who died in 2012, having faced accusations that he trafficked in illicit artefacts.

These artefacts included a 2,500-year-old Greek vase that he sold in 1972 for a then record $1m to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and which was subsequently returned to Italy in 2008. The fresco fragment bears a beautiful depiction of a young woman looking out from a balcony.