Mind the Gaps at the Louvre

Picture: MS

Drost's Bathsheba is lonely. She used to be flanked by two of the Louvre's great Rembrandts: his version of Bathsheba on the right, and St Matthew and the Angel on the left. The St Matthew has gone to the Louvre's new branch in Lens, the Bathsheba is 'being examined'. Lots of pictures are being 'examined' at the moment; my guess is that they're being prepared for transport to Lens. Instead of an opportunity to see rarely exhibited pictures from the basement, there are great big gaps in the displays. And what can compensate for the loss of Bathsheba and St Matthew from the Rembrandt room? The Louvre has some fine Rembrandts, but it's an area of relative weakness and these are two of the three highlights; only the late Self Portrait at the Easel remains.

Other pictures have recently returned, but the captions haven't been updated. There's a sign in the Ingres room advising that Monsieur Bertin is in Lens. But previously it didn't hang in the Ingres room; it was in the large format French paintings room, to which it has now returned. Unless you know the picture you wouldn't realise, though, because the captions haven't been updated. Here he is, with his 'caption':

And here is Raphael's Baldassare Castiglione, which was removed early from the Late Raphael exhibition for its rendezvous in Lens, with a detail of its caption:

and here is Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People:

Unbelievable that the Louvre would fail to give Liberty Leading the People its caption!

The Louvre used to be the greatest encyclopaedic museum in the world. Now it's a brand, selling merchandise and shipping art between its branches. Coherent groups of objects are being broken up to satisfy political and economic imperatives. The Louvre has acquired most of Fragonard's series of Fantasy Portraits, which look fantastic as a group. But now the most famous of them all, the portrait of the Enlightenment encyclopaedist Denis Diderot, has been separated from its companions and sent to Lens. 

The main reason for my visit was to see Raphael drawings, and I'm pleased to say that the print room remains an oasis of culture and civility. I look forward to some more upbeat posts about the drawings by Raphael and his school that I saw.

Michelangelo in jail

Picture: Minutemennews.com

Michelangelo's Rondanini Pieta is being moved from the Castello Sforzesco to Milan's prison, reports The Art Newspaper, so they can tart up the castle to attract more visitors.  The article quotes Andrew Neilson of the British Howard League for Prison Reform: "There is a long tradition of art projects aiding the journey of long-term prisoners as they serve their sentence."  Quite right, but this isn't an art project - it's a Michelangelo!  Showing art to prisoners is a fine idea, but this deprives everyone else.  It's a despicable example of what happens when well-meaning philistine politicians are allowed to pursue pet projects without concern for the value of art. 

 

Tim Robertson of the Koestler Trust, another prison arts charity tells The Art Newspaper: “This is what art is about, and the most useful art should be for people who are falling off the edge of society.”  What a horridly instrumental idea - that art is just a handrail, its purpose merely to stop people 'falling off the edge of society'.  I'm sure that Robertson's charity is engaged in laudable work, but I venture to suggest that some of us hold a rather broader notion of art - which can be for many purposes, or none at all. 

 

I've been to the Castello Sforzesco several times, and relished its relative quietude.  It is less polished than some museums, but all the more charming for that.  It's a massive castle in a prominent position, listed in all the guidebooks and freely accessible.  If 'only' 350,000 people a year choose to visit, so be it.  I'm sure disabled access could be added without a huge renovation; I just don't believe that the move is even necessary. 

 

This horrid plan puts a great sculpture at risk of damage and deprives the world of the opportunity to see it.  It is unavoidably a zero-sum game.  Prisoners have been sentenced to jail because society has determined that they should be deprived the benefits and freedoms of society.  What have the rest of us done to deserve this?