Prado denies loan of three El Greco works to Louvre: 'for museum's bicentennial, collections must remain intact'

Madrid ’s Prado Museum has denied the Louvre in Paris the loan of three works by El Greco (Domínikos Theotokópoulos; Candia, 1541 - Toledo, 1614): the French museum had requested them from the Spanish museum for a major exhibition devoted to the Greek painter, heralded as the most comprehensive retrospective ever devoted to him on French soil (it will run from Oct. 16, 2019 to Jan. 10, 2020 at the Grand Palais, and the Louvre will figure as co-producer). The works denied are The Flight into Egypt of 1570, the Trinity of 1577, and A Fable of 1580. The motivation? This year falls the bicentennial of the Prado’s founding: and for birthday number 200 of the prestigious Spanish museum, all visitors must see all the works in the collection. “In fact, the best way to celebrate the Prado’s bicentennial,” the museum’s program reads, “is to show its collections intact.”

It must be said, however, that this assumption was not always respected this year: for example, Andrea Mantegna’s Transit of the Virgin, one of the collection’s most famous works, was loaned to the National Gallery in London. And also to the National Gallery were sent three paintings by Sorolla for the major exhibition on the Valencian painter held just this year at the British museum. However, they also let it be known from the museum that the moratorium prohibiting anniversary loans does not affect loans that had been granted before or those that are part of multi-year agreements.

El País newspaper, however, has reconstructed the whole affair, saying that contacts between the curator of the El Greco exhibition, Guillaume Kientz, and the Prado’s director, Miguel Falomir, date back to 2017, when a written request was made to the Prado by the Grand Palais, but received a negative response in September of that year. Later, a French delegation also visited the Prado to try to convince Falomir, but to no avail. However, the Spanish museum, El País reports, also claims that no “formal request for any work” has come from France.

Kientz, who until last January was in charge of Spanish painting at the Louvre (he is now instead conservator of European art at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas), says, “I would have liked it if the Prado had participated in this endeavor. We insisted in every way that it was possible to do so. And the Prado’s version has always been the same: in the bicentennial year, they cannot lend any works. We can understand that the rooms should not be empty in a year when an anniversary falls, but sometimes a solution could be found.” For the curator, the Prado’s denial was a “surprise,” taking into account the good relations between the two museums. The staff also played the diplomacy card this summer, trying to involve the Spanish embassy in France. But even this attempt was fruitless, as the Prado proved adamant.

Pictured: El Greco, A Fable (1580; oil on canvas, 50.5 x 63.6 cm; Madrid, Prado)

Prado denies loan of three El Greco works to Louvre: 'for museum's bicentennial, collections must remain intact'

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