France and Holland have acquired two outstanding Rembrandt, condominium. They were presented to King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, during a visit to the Louvre.
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Two portraits of Rembrandt, bought jointly by France and Holland, were unveiled Thursday to King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, during a short visit to the Louvre .
The royal couple was first briefly explain the saga of these great and rare paintings, sold by the Rothschild family for 160 million euros, coveted by the world and finally acquired a kind of condominium by the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Then the king and queen took the pose in front of portraits Marlen Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, Amsterdam’s wealthy citizens. To the delight of the Dutch media, came in numbers, then the audience got a glimpse of two Dutch couples power, five centuries later. With these huge portraits Length, “Marlen Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit dared imagine like royalty” has rightly pointed out the president of the Louvre to the sovereigns, before they will leave with François Hollande.
For now, the paintings are hung on the French museum. In three months they will be exhibited in Amsterdam, in the gallery of honor of the Rijksmuseum, already home quantity of Rembrandt. Then the pair turn at five years in a museum, and five in the other (8 and 8 thereafter). The conditions of these unpublished rotations, as well as the act of ownership, have been thoroughly described in an intergovernmental agreement signed in February. There is for example clear the loan prohibition of these two paintings of the seventeenth century, in order not to weaken them further.
A trauma in Dutch
First owned by the family Van Loon, the two tables were put on sale for the first time in 1877. The Dutch government ‘s Even then tried to buy them, but failed, so the price was exorbitant. A consortium of the Rothschild family, led by Baron Gustave, bought 68 Flemish and Dutch paintings from the collection, including two portraits. The tables then left the Netherlands for France, creating trauma in Dutch.
Until now, portraits and Marlen Soolmans Oopjen Coppit hung in the room of Eric de Rothschild in Paris. “My brother and I had to sell them, with great regret, to inheritance rights stories,” said the latter, on the sidelines of the royal visit, visibly moved.
When contacted by Eric de Rothschild in 2013, the Louvre was initially declined the offer, the amount was considered “fair” by the market, but too high for a public institution. “160 million euros corresponded to 20 years in the Louvre acquisition budget. The purchase would have been, in a sense, irresponsible from a political point of view but also citizen “argues Jean-Luc Martinez.
A multitude of financial solutions
Meanwhile, the Rijksmuseum and the Dutch government have done everything to “bring back the country” both ways, actively seeking a sum they did not initially. “Through a variety of financial solutions, including assistance to state and private sponsorship, we were almost there,” says Wim Pijbes today, the Director of the Rijksmuseum “We even thought they could acquire without France” . The joint purchase was finally reached between the two countries, after negotiations with twists and turns, and the bottom of a press campaign passionate Holland. It is François Hollande himself that prompted the Bank of France to unblock 80 million euros, so that France can purchase one of two paintings – one of Oopjen Coppit in this case.
Today, the new Minister of Culture Audrey Azoulay welcomes this European agreement that allowed “to bring in European public collections of major works.” And believes that the original acquisition scheme could be applied one day to other important works.
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