Italy’s populist government has escalated tensions with France by saying it will cancel the previously agreed loan of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci paintings to the Louvre for a major 2019 exhibition.
Speaking to The Telegraph on Sunday, Lucia Borgonzoni, Italian undersecretary for the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, said the government would block the Louvre from pursuing loan transfers of several prominent artworks from Italian museums.
“When I discovered (the agreement), I thought to myself: ‘This is one of the biggest, most shameful acts of the previous government with regard to cultural heritage.’
"How could any Italians be in favour of giving over these da Vinci works without asking for something equally important to display in this anniversary year?” said Ms Borgonzoni, who is a member of the far-Right League party.
“Leonardo was Italian, after all. Why don’t they loan us the Mona Lisa?”
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Both countries are preparing commemorations for 2019 marking the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo.
The Louvre has repeatedly rebuffed requests to allow the Mona Lisa to be shown in Italy, where experts believe Leonardo began painting the enigmatic portrait of Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocando.
He then moved to France in 1516, where la Giocanda, as Italians call the painting, was acquired by the French Royal family after the artist’s death. Since the French Revolution it has been owned by the French government.
Representatives from the Louvre declined to comment.
According to ministry officials, a deal had been discussed in a series of emails between former Italian culture minister officials and Louvre directors in 2017 as the Paris museum was planning its anniversary exhibition.
In exchange, the Louvre had agreed to loan unspecified works by Renaissance master Raphael to Rome’s Scuderi del Quirinale for a 2020 exhibition marking 500 years since Raphael’s death.
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Since the new populist government was formed in June this year, relations between France and Italy have turned increasingly sour.
Antipathy has grown between Matteo Salvini, the League leader and Italian interior minister, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, with the two men trading insults over immigration, border security and nationalism.
After Italy launched its own series of Leonardo anniversary events this autumn, ministry officials discovered some precious works were about to be shipped out to France.
Culture ministry officials say the Louvre had made a request in late September directly to Galleria Borghese in Rome for Leda with the Swan, a noted copy by one of Leonardo’s pupils.
Other museum directors in Venice, Turin and Florence said they had also been contacted and were reluctant to loan their most famous Leonardo paintings, including the Annunciation and Vitruvian Man.
“We’ve stopped everything and the ministry is taking it into our own hands now,” Ms Borgonzoni said.
“Of course we are willing to sit at the table to discuss the Louvre’s wish list, but in the spirit of reciprocal respect, which in past years has been missing.”
Ministry officials say Italy is considering loaning the 1508 oil-on-wood painting La Scapigliata, or “Head of a Young Woman with Tousled Hair” from the national gallery in Parma.