ENI, an Italian firm, is one of the world’s largest petroleum companies. Its turnover in 2008 totaled 108 billion euros resulting in profits of 8.8 billion. ENI, thus has money, lots of it, which it uses at times as an arts patron. Thus the Louvre received aid for its exhibitions on Mantegna and the one currently showing under the pyramid, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese. Rivalry in Venice. Both exhibitions were extremely successful. It will also finance a retrospective highlighting Raphael’s last years in 2012.  continue

A few weeks ago the French public television channel, Arte, wanted to interview me on the show Metropolis for a program on culture in Abu Dhabi and particularly the Louvre satellite to open there. They were, in their own words, “having a hard time finding someone against the project who would accept to discuss it in front of the cameras.” After exchanging two or three e-mails, the interview was planned for Tuesday 10 March but then was abruptly cancelled and put off to a “later” date without (...)  continue

The long interview which Jean-Jacques Aillagon, president of the Domaine de Versailles, granted us here gives us cause to be cautiously optimistic. We of course need to wait and see if his intentions are carried out. In any case, we must admit that, on several issues, his solutions are very close to those we had put forth in our article Versailles or Versailles-land (on La Tribune de l’Art, in French).
Concerning reconstitutions, Jean-Jacques Aillagon remains, it is true, ambiguous. (...)   continue

Some of our readers would like The Art Tribune to take a stand on the Jeff Koons exhibition at Versailles. Let us say that our views were clearly expressed — in humorous form — in our review of the press conference given by Jean-Jacques Aillagon last 11 December. The inclusion of contemporary art in historical monuments and classical art museums is a passing trend, and as such will tend to disappear. Its only real justification is in the case of a thematic or cross-referenced exhibition (...)  continue

The Louvre is still offering great deals. If you are a millionaire and would like to organize an exhibition, this is definitely the place to come: ask for a couple of masterpieces and it will see you get them on condition you pay the right price. It seems that only the Mona Lisa is not for rent. At least officially. But you can have any other Leonardo you want.
After Lens, Atlanta and Abou Dhabi, it is now Verona’s turn. Or how to go about leasing 140 of the most important works in the (...)   continue

In France, the danger which could have threatened museum collections in the form of deaccessioning seems to be fading from sight. The Minister of Culture, Christine Albanel, has in fact just stated that inalienability “is an excellent principle which needs to be strengthened”, following a series of negative conclusions from a report on the subject submitted by Jacques Rigaud, former high government employee and former president of an association to develop art funding by businesses.
In (...)   continue

American museums have practiced deaccessioning for a long time. In the case of private establishments, this can be justified, although it may present a certain number of risks, among them that of selling today a work that will be direly missed tomorrow. In most European countries, objects in museums or other public institutions are considered “inalienable” and thus cannot be sold. Yet this excellent principle is now being threatened in France. Once more, after the leasing of the Louvre’s (...)  continue

La Tribune de l’Art is a French website born in April 2003 and devoted to art history from the Middle Ages to the 1930’s. It is the only art journal to publish both news and scholarly articles. Over the last four years, in France and abroad, it has quickly become a reference for those interested in art history, either professionally or for their enjoyment . Today we are  continue