The row over Italy’s paintings is a disturbing example of politicians trying to harness art to nationalism
He drew portraits for Italian dukes, sketched for the papacy and died at the court of a French king. If there is any artist who defies nationhood it is surely Leonardo da Vinci. Yet last week, Leonardo’s cosmopolitan legacy was caught up in an extraordinary intergovernmental spat when Rome renewed its threat to block Italian galleries from lending to the forthcoming Louvre exhibition commemorating the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death.
Leonardo was Italian, after all. Why don’t they loan us the Mona Lisa?
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2QI3o0T
