QUEBEC’S CLAIM TO DAVID’S PAINTING OF SAINT JEROME ENDS NATIONAL GALLERY’S BID TO BUY IT WITH CHAGALL PROCEEDS.
Decision ‘fraught with consequences’
The family of the late Russian-French artist Marc Chagall has written the National Gallery of Canada to say that it “deeply regrets” the gallery’s move to sell the Chagall painting La Tour Eiffel next month at auction in New York.
In a letter sent Tuesday to gallery director and CEO Marc Mayer and obtained by the Ottawa Citizen, the Marc Chagall Committee in Paris, which also controls the artist’s estate and upholds his reputation, says that Canadians will be deprived of part of their cultural heritage if the sale, slated for May 15, goes ahead.
“We deeply regret your decision ... We hope that you will consider other solutions for your museum before implementing this pressing decision, which cannot be undone and is fraught with consequences,” states the letter from Meret Meyer, representing the Marc Chagall Committee.
The gallery bought the painting in 1956, but recently decided to sell it at auction, for as much as US$9 million. Initially, the proceeds were intended to finance the purchase of a prized painting by French artist Jacques-Louis David. But in a move that seems to cap several weeks of controversy, Quebec’s minister of culture announced Monday that David’s prized painting of Saint Jerome would be classified as a provincial heritage document, effectively thwarting the National Gallery’s efforts to acquire it.
“It is my duty as minister to protect this work that is part of our history,” said Marie Montpetit, relying upon Quebec’s Cultural Heritage Act this week. “It is with pride that I announce today that Jacques-Louis David’s Saint Jerome will remain in Quebec.”
The political decision appears to end what seemed to be a murky struggle involving the National Gallery and several leading Quebec museums attempting to acquire the 1799 painting, which is owned by the Notre-Dame-de-Québec Parish Corp. in Quebec City and which is one of just two works by David held in Canada. The parish organization has wanted to sell the painting for as much as $6.3 million to raise funds for building upkeep, according to media reports.
At first, the National Gallery did not disclose that it was the David painting that it was seeking to buy after selling La Tour Eiffel, which is one of its two paintings by Chagall. Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Mayer would only say that La Tour Eiffel was being sold to finance the acquisition of a “national treasure” that otherwise might be bought by a foreign buyer.
However, Quebec newspapers reported that the David painting was likely in the National Gallery’s sights. Moreover, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City publicly expressed their interest in jointly acquiring the David painting — and in keeping it in Quebec.
In 1922, the David painting was donated to the parish corporation by two sisters, Geneviève and Henriette Cramail, who were descendants of the French artist Gustave Mailand, who had previously owned the work.
Late Monday afternoon, the National Gallery released a letter stating that it was not in “a bidding struggle” to buy the David, and that it did not intend to “pre-empt efforts by museums in Quebec to purchase the work.”
“We were led to believe that, although more than a year had elapsed since the painting was offered for sale, a Quebec institutional buyer seemed unlikely,” said the letter from Mayer and Françoise Lyon, chair of the museum’s board of trustees.
The letter suggested that if the National Gallery were to buy the David “it need not be on exclusive permanent display at the National Gallery of Canada. We would welcome developing a longterm loan agreement with museums in Quebec. Indeed, we have a long history of such arrangements.”
However, last week, Mayer said that the National Gallery was not interested in working with the Quebec museums on a joint acquisition, and that the David painting was “not a child of a divorced couple that shuttles back and forth.”
Monday’s letter added that the gallery’s board will proceed nonetheless with the sale of the Chagall painting in New York on May 15.
The Chagall painting’s departure from the gallery’s collection has prompted two online petitions in protest. Almost 900 people have signed the petitions, which call for La Tour Eiffel to remain in Ottawa.
JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID’S SAINT JEROME WILL REMAIN IN QUEBEC.