The government of the Lombardy region in northern Italy has offered to take in the “Mona Lisa”, a masterpiece by Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci, following news of conservation problems at the Louvre, the Paris museum that houses the painting.
“We are ready to host 'La Gioconda' [the name of the film in Italian] in Lombardy,” assured the regional secretary for Culture, Francesca Caruso.
About 10 days ago, the president of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, sent a letter to the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, to complain about the deterioration of the country's most visited museum, citing infiltrations, leaks, outdated infrastructure, lack of money to pay service providers and “worrying temperature fluctuations that put the works at risk”.
The document was made public last Thursday (23), through the newspaper Le Parisien. Next Tuesday (28), the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to visit the Louvre to check the situation in person.
Painted in the early 16th century, the “Mona Lisa” is one of the most famous paintings in the history of art and depicts the young Florentine bourgeois Lisa Gherardini.
The work, however, only gained international notoriety after being stolen from the Louvre by an Italian nationalist in 1911. The “Gioconda” would be reinstated to the museum's collection in 1914. (HANDLE)
