The establishment, which welcomes for eleven months “The squatting scribe” of the Louvre, has noted its bet to attract a remote population of museums but remains fragile economically.
by
“She is beautiful!”, Emmanuel Macron enthusiasm. Despite its small size – 47 centimeters – and its 4,500 years of age, the statue of the squatting scribe devours all the space in the Louvre-Lens Museum, to whom the work was lent to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Arrival discreetly the eve of the Louvre Museum in Paris, the figure of Pierre limestone was installed Wednesday 2 February, a few hours before the coming of the head of state, coming to greet the success of the Artésian establishment, today third museum The largest province, behind the MuCEM (Marseille) and the Museum of Confluences (Lyon).
This loan from the squatting scribe, scheduled for a period of eleven months, is the first strong act of Laurence des Cars, the new President of the Louvre, named in May 2021 by Mr. Macron. During his inauguration, in December 2012, the Louvre-Lens had obtained from exposing freedom guiding the people, Eugène Delacroix.
Since then, the Parisian museum lent some 3,300 works to its little sister of the Hauts-de-France, among which paintings by Raphael, Ingres, Rembrandt, Vermeer … but none of the wingspan of the Egyptian statue, of which Polished rock crystal eyes suggest Egyptologists for almost two centuries.
“This loan, I thought about my arrival because I wanted a strong symbol to celebrate the birthday of the Louvre-Lens, explains Laurence des Cars in the world. The squatting scribe is one of the most famous works and the more beloved of the Louvre. and his loan coincided with the bicentenary of the decryption of the hieroglyphs by Champollion, which will be the subject of an exhibition in Lens in September. “The sculpture had only left the Louvre since its entrance At the museum, in 1854, when she had been offered by Egypt for the sharing of excavations. And again, it was to go to the Grand Palais, close to the Paris Museum, at an exhibition devoted to the pyramids in 1999.
A decade of development
For m me Cars, the Egyptian statue is also an opportunity to remember that the Louvre is much more than the refuge of the joconde. “From the start, we have agreed with the Louvre-Lens so as not to expose a painting, to show that the Louvre is not a great museum of paintings but also counts major departments like that of the Egyptian antiques, “explains the former President of the Orsay Museum, which should unveil in the coming days the projects it intends to carry out during his mandate at the Louvre, started the 1 e September and of a period – renewable – five years. M Me CARS committed to creating a new department dedicated to Byzantium and the Christians of the East.
You still have 57.05% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.