The government of Amiens, a town in the north of France, believes that Madonna, the renowned Pop star, has in her possession a painting that disappeared from the local museum during the First World War. It would be about Diana and Endymion, a painting painted by Jérôme-Martin Langlois, and from the government they asked the diva to make them a loan so that she could return to the city again.
This painting was finished in 1822 as a request by Louis XVIII to hang on the walls of Versailles, the palace where the monarchy of the European country lived, and which in 1873 was acquired by the republic. Finally, he hanged himself in Amiens after the government of France and the Louvre administration lent them this work in 1878, but 40 years later it disappeared with the end of the Second World War.
The work reappeared, according to the newspaper Le Figaro, at an auction in 1989 where Madonna bought it for 1.3 million dollars, a value that is estimated to be three times the price at which it was valued. However, the main difference between this painting and the one that disappeared in France more than a century ago is that it has no signature or date.
In a video, the governor of this small city located north of the frank nation asked the “Like A Virgin” singer if she could lend them the work so it can help this small town’s efforts to become the European Capital of Culture by 2028, an event to be announced in December. “We do not intend to dispute in any way the legality of the way in which you obtained the painting, but we want to borrow it from you so that our citizens can rediscover and enjoy the work,” said the policy.
The European capital of culture
This is a measure that the European Union has been carrying out since 1985 and was proposed by Melina Mercouri, the Greek Minister of Culture, who indicated that the world does not give as much weight to this area as it does to the economy and politics.
In 2023 the capitals are Veszprém in Hungary, Timisoara in Romania and Eleusis in Greecewhile, from 2024, the capitals would be: Tartu in Estonia, Bad Ischl in Austria and Bodo in Norway.
