An Italian Court Rules Once and for All to Allow Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’ to Travel to the Louvre, Ending Years of Legal Wrangling

The Louvre Museum is celebrating a big win now that an Italian
court has ruled to allow Leonardo da Vinci’s world-famous drawing
Vitruvian Man (1490) to travel to Paris for a blockbuster
show of works by the artist opening October 24.

The decision, first reported by Italian radio station
RTL, reverses a lower court
ruling earlier this month that had blocked the loan and marks
the end of a two-year battle over the decision.

The conservative cultural preservation organization Italia
Nostra had argued that the work is too fragile to travel.
But the Administrative Court of Veneto rejected Italia
Nostra’s appeal, saying it did not present sufficient evidence to
support its argument against the loan, according to RTL. The Louvre
did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Italian culture minister Dario Franceschini tweeted that the
court ruling reaffirmed the fact that the ministry had acted
appropriately when it first supported the loan more than two years
ago. “Now the great Italo-French cultural operation of the two
exhibits on Leonardo in Paris and Raphael in Rome can begin,” he
wrote.

In exchange for the loan of Vitruvian Man and several
other works, the Louvre will send two Raphael paintings and several
drawings to Rome for a show next year that commemorates the 500th
anniversary of Raphael’s death, according to the New York
Times.

Italia Nostra made it clear it is not happy about the court
reversal. “If being included in the list of assets that belong to
the main fund of a gallery or museum fails to prevent the
expatriation of an iconic work and if the indications of the
restorers and conservators are all questionable, then today is a
bad day for the future of heritage of Italy,” said the
organization’s president, Mariarita Signorini, in comments posted on
Italia Nostra’s website.

“Italia Nostra will not give up because it considers a victory
to have raised with determination and courage the unresolved issue
of loans and travel of priceless works of art kept in our museums,”
Signorini added.

Vitruvian Man is seldom loaned out and due to its need
for protection from direct light and constantly monitoring. It is
not permanently displayed even at its home, the Galleria dell’
Accademia in Venice, according to the Times. Earlier this
year, the drawing was shown in Venice as part of a
Leonardo exhibition there. Prior to that, it was last
exhibited in 2013.

Meanwhile, questions are still swirling about the condition and
location of another controversial Leonardo work, Salvator
Mundi (circa 1500), which sold at Christie’s New York in 2017
for a record $450.3 million (with premium).

The Washington
Post reports that Louvre curators Vincent Delieuvin
and Louis Frank explicitly requested the work from the owner,
believed to be Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA
accused last year of ordering the murder of American journalist
Jamal Khashoggi.

Shortly after the painting was first sold, the Louvre Abu Dhabi
announced via Twitter that it was to be the new home of the
painting. But the display was indefinitely delayed and in the
ensuing years and doubts about its attribution to Leonardo da Vinci
have intensified.

“Barring a last-minute surprise,” the Post says, “the
painting will be a no-show.”

The post An Italian Court Rules Once and for All to Allow
Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’ to Travel to the Louvre, Ending
Years of Legal Wrangling appeared first on artnet
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