As Frédéric Chopin or Salvador Dali, Leonardo da Vinci is one of those artists that France is not the only one to lay claim to the spiritual inheritance. In 2019, an exhibition marking 500 years of the death of the father of the mona lisa , (he died may 2, 1519), will be held in the great French museum. For the occasion, Italy agreed to pay all of its tables, with the exception of the Adoration of The magi , hardly moved from the Uffizi gallery in Florence.
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Saturday 17 November, the Corriere della sera reported, however, that Italy wants to renegotiate this agreement. The secretary of State for Culture, Lucia Borgonzoni, a member of the League, the party of the right-wing populist who came to power in march 2018, stated, «inconceivable» by the terms of the agreement, signed by its predecessor Dario Franceschini in 2017.
«The loan of these paintings to the Louvre would place Italy at the margin of a major cultural event ( … ), especially because the academy of Lyncéens is in the process of preparing his own exhibition for the month of August,» said Lucia Borgonzoni. These words can arouse amazement since the French exhibition was deliberately scheduled several months after the anniversary date, at the end of the month of October 2019, to allow the Italians time to celebrate the 500 years of the death of the painter.
«Leonardo is Italian, it is only death in France»
The hall of Leonardo da Vinci at the Uffizi gallery in Florence. Screen Capture of Google Maps of the room of Leonardo da Vinci in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
«Leonardo is Italian, it is only death in France», she advanced about the artist. At the risk of reducing to the bare minimum the importance of France in the life of the painter, born in Florence, Italy in 1452 and died in France in 1519.
«We need to revisit everything. When the autonomy of museums is at stake, the national interest can not happen in the second. The French cannot have it all», has sentencieusement summary Lucia Borgonzoni.
«Lucia Borgonzoni declares the war in France»
To the extent that the agreement franco-Italian provides that the Louvre ready to turn to the works of another master of the Renaissance, Raphael, at the museum of the Quirinale in an exhibition in 2020. Also there to celebrate the 500 years of her disappearance. «Most of the works of Raphael are already in Italy. In addition, Paris said that only the paintings draggable can be sent to us, without specifying which,» tempêté the secretary of State.
The daily milanese Libero was titled «Lucia Borgonzoni declares war on France». And on Twitter, about Lucia Borgonzoni have led to a wave of chauvinism artistic. Some going so far as to require the return of the mona lisa in Italy. How far will this susceptibility new?
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A new setback for the Louvre, after the announcement of the auction of the drawing of saint Sebastian signed, Leonardo da Vinci, on which the largest museum in the world would have had views. Because classification as a national treasure, which blocks the sale to allow time for museums to find funds, is now outdated. Estimated at 15 million euros, the work becomes almost inaccessible.
More seriously, the Salvator Mundi , table the most expensive ever purchased by the crown prince of saudi Arabia, could not be part of the anniversary exhibition, as this was yet to be the case. The work, which has not been exposed at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, remains for the moment hidden. Giving rise to all the fantasies.