Cronaca: Louvre for rent

February 2, 2006

Louvre for rent

Or rather, and what is stirring concern, its contents:

A ground-breaking cultural exchange, intended to sweeten relations between France and the US, has provoked claims that the Louvre is "hiring out" some of its greatest masterpieces.

The Paris museum will be paid €13m (£9m) over three years to send 185 works, including paintings by Raphael, Rembrandt and Poussin, to the High museum in Atlanta, Georgia. . .

The Louvre admits it will be paid by American business sponsors to loan the works, including a Raphael portrait, Baldassare Castiglione, which has not left France in 300 years. But a Louvre spokesperson said €5.5m of the money will fund the three years of exhibitions in Atlanta. The rest will cover half the cost of renovating the Louvre's 18th-century art rooms. . .

Although the deal has been treated with great secrecy by the Louvre, the High museum in Atlanta has been boasting [about] it for months . . .

The High Museum press release is here; it sounds like a big project, but I just don't see the justification for hauling such fragile and irreplaceable artworks across the Atlantic. The initial Atlanta exhibition title is "Kings as Collectors" -- a sort of convenient umbrella for an assemblage without any real theme or purpose.

Posted by David on February 2, 2006 2:06 PM

Comments

I have been to the High in Atlanta many times and I am overjoyed to see this coming to my area.

Posted by: Gunner on February 2, 2006 2:59 PM

It is undoubtedly a wonderful opportunity for those nearer to Atlanta than to Paris. The question is, does this justify putting the paintings at risk?

So far we've been lucky: no catastrophic losses of major artworks traveling to or from loan exhibitions, and what damage has occurred has been kept very, very quiet. But this is all too reminiscent of the mentality that led to the Challenger disaster, where risks are discounted rather than reduced.

Posted by: David on February 3, 2006 9:12 AM

Sometimes you need to see the artwork. I have seen copies in books of the last supper by Leonardo Da Vinci, but since it is on a wall I will never see the full size image in front of me. I do not think any computer screen or book print can replicate the grande nature of some art. I think the risk is worth it.

I likely will never go to France to see the Louvre, but hope to one day. If not for the risk taken by some museums I never will be able to enjoy the great works.

For me the risk is worth it.

Posted by: Gunner on February 3, 2006 2:25 PM