Leonardo Exhibition Security Debate

I’m been reading reports from the Telegraph and the Independent about a consequence of the Poussin incident last Saturday. According to these sources, the attack is causing the Cracow museum to re-consider lending Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine to the NG for its November show. I don’t, for one moment, think this will happen despite Olga Jaros, the newly appointed chairman of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation in Poland, saying there will have to be a “throrough debate” before the painting departs for London.  This will be a flagship exhibition for the gallery; there are also a lot of vested interests tied up in it, especially with the inclusion of the recently re-discovered Salvator Mundi work.

According to the Independent, the NG responds. "In regard to the Cecilia Gallerani painting, there is no change" and "The National Gallery is very pleased to work with Olga Jaros, the newly appointed chairwoman of the Czartoryski Foundation, on the loan painting of Lady with an Ermine.”

However, it must be worrying for the Czartoryski Foundation to read that the NG  “admits that its staff must now guard two rooms each in at least one third of the gallery after budget cuts.” According to the Telegraph, the NG also say “We were already considering extending the arrangements where an assistant invigilates more than one room, prior to needing to identify savings,” and that their security is “in keeping” with other museums. I’m not qualified to speak on this debate at all, but I suspect the NG will have to bump up security for the Leonardo show, as part of these “negotiations” mentioned in the Independent article. I really don’t envy them having to manage crowds and potential security hazards in this climate.

Meanwhile, back to Poussin. The Independent says: “On Friday, a 57-year-old man was detained under the Mental Health Act following the vandalism of the Poussins.” A little piece of the jigsaw in place. We might get more details in time, or then again, we might not!

Comments

[Edward Goldberg]

Any time you move a work of art, there is inevitably a risk of damage. But Cracow has not been shy about lending out that picture. (I saw it here in Florence twelve years ago, when they also sent it to Rome and Milan.)Needless to say, the National Gallery absolutely MUST have at least one guard in every room for a Leonardo Show (surely that is not even under discussion?!) and a full security system - with motion detectors, etc. They can always opt for a plexiglass (or whatever) shield. Having said that, there is no reason to think that the picture is less exposed to crazies in Cracow than in London. And if a crazy is on a mission to damage a picture, they are pretty nearly unstoppable.

[David Packwood]

Edward,

There's no doubt the security is going to have to be stepped up for the Leonardo show, especially as the Louvre are loaning one of the most important paintings in their collection.

I agree- pictures are vulnerable anywhere.

[Security Jobs]

"The National Gallery is very pleased to work with Olga Jaros, the newly appointed chairwoman of the Czartoryski Foundation, on the loan painting of Lady with an Ermine.”