The affair ends well for the Louvre. The Italian justice authorized, on Wednesday, October 16th, the loan of several works of Leonardo da Vinci to the Parisian museum, including "The Man of Vitruvius". This decision allows the museum to welcome all the masterpieces of the artist expected in the French capital for the great exhibition that will be dedicated to him. A heritage association did not want the famous drawing "The Vitruvian Man" to leave Italy.

"Now, the great Italian-French cultural operation of the two exhibitions on Leonardo in Paris and Raphael in Rome can start," said Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini on Twitter.

Refused not "sufficiently founded"

The administrative court of Veneto (north-east of Italy) rejected the appeal filed by the association Italia Nostra, saying that his request "was not sufficiently founded", thus opening the way to the loan of the works to France .

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The court argued that the choice of the Italian government to lend the works, under an agreement with Paris, proceeded from "the exceptional global significance of the exhibition, the aspiration of the country to maximize the potential of its heritage ", as well as" the value of cooperation and exchanges between States ".

Seized by Italia Nostra, who considers that the exit of the territory of "The Vitruvian Man" violates the Italian cultural property code, the court had suspended the loan procedure on October 8th.

In its decision, the administrative court also suspended the agreement signed in late September in Paris between the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Louvre for the exchange of works by Leonardo da Vinci and the painter Raphael.

Under the agreement signed by Dario Franceschini and his French counterpart Franck Riester, Rome is to lend five works by Leonardo da Vinci to the Paris museum for the grand exhibition commemorating the fifth centenary of the death of the master of the Renaissance (1452-1519). held at the Louvre from 24 October to 24 February 2020.

Four drawings

In addition to the famous "Vitruvian Man" held at the Academy Gallery in Venice, four drawings ("Study of Landscape", "Study for the Adoration of the Magi", and two "Studies of Failure") must be lent.

Similarly, copies of the "Leda" and the "Battle of Anghiari" from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence will make the trip to Paris.

These seven works add to thirteen others that various Italian museums have already agreed to lend, after negotiations between museums.

In return, five works by Raphael - two paintings and three drawings - as well as two drawings by Giovan Francesco Penni, all of which are in the Louvre, will be loaned to Italy for the Raphael exhibition, which will open at the Quirinal. in Rome next March.

"Incomprehensible"

The Italian Ministry of Culture had judged a few days ago "incomprehensible" the suspension of the loan decided by the Venetian court.

The exchange was decided "according to the specific rules of safeguarding (works) enacted by museums," he argued, saying he was confident about the final decision.

The previous Italian government, in which the League (far right) of Matteo Salvini had a preponderant weight, had renounced to lend the works and marked his bad mood about the exhibition of the Louvre.

He had insisted that Leonardo da Vinci, who died 500 years ago, was first Italian, even though he had lived the last three years of his life in France at the invitation of King Francis I.

At the time, the deputy minister of culture, Lucia Borgonzoni, close to Matteo Salvini, had said that the artist "was a great Italian, even if a brother from the other side of the Alps would like to pass him for a French".

With AFP