"It's an exceptional event! We will welcome in 2023 the most beautiful masterpieces of the Capodimonte museum which will dialogue with those of the Louvre, within the same museum, in an unprecedented device", she detailed to the press alongside his Neapolitan counterpart, Sylvain Bellenger.

This system will last six months, from June 2023 to January 2024.

If it was born from the will of these two directors, it is also the fruit of an opportunity that Laurence des Cars and Sylvain Bellenger did not want to let go.

That of the closure, during the same period, of the Neapolitan museum, for works.

"Instead of letting these treasures sleep, we said to ourselves that the French and world public of the Louvre had to benefit from them", specified Mr. Bellenger.

Concretely, these works will not be the subject of a temporary exhibition but will be slipped into three separate rooms of the Louvre to "dialogue" with those of the host museum.

The large gallery will house 33 paintings, including "the Crucifixion" by Masaccio -a major artist of the Florentine Renaissance but absent from the Louvre's collections-, a history painting by Giovanni Bellini, "The Transfiguration", or three paintings by Parmigianino including the famous and enigmatic "Antea".

Cherry on the cake ?

The magnificent painting "The Flagellation" by Caravaggio can also be admired in Paris.

The Salle de la Chapelle will give pride of place to goldsmithery with "La cassette Farnèse", the most precious and refined of Renaissance goldsmith works with "La Salière" by François Ier, or the extraordinary biscuit by Filippo Tagliolini, "The Fall of the Giants".

This is also the first time that this biscuit will be loaned.

Finally, the clock room will showcase prints and drawings, including "Moses before the Burning Bush" by Raphaël.

To these works will be added a season of concerts, shows and events, which have not yet been unveiled.

Former hunting lodge of the Bourbon dynasty, the Capodimonte Museum now houses one of the largest museums in Italy and one of the most important art galleries in Europe.

© 2022 AFP