LOUVRE ASKS PUBLIC FOR FUNDING TO SAVE PAINTING FOR COUNTRY

FRANCE'S LOUVRE MUSEUM IS MAKING AN UNPRECEDENTED APPEAL TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO HELP IT RAISE THE CASH NEEDED TO BUY A 16th CENTURY PAINTING DEEMED A NATIONAL TREASURE BY ART EXPERTS. THE LOUVRE HAS ALREADY SCRAPED TOGETHER $4.19 MILLION FOR 'THE THREE GRACES', AN OIL PAINTING OF THREE NUDES BY GERMAN ARTIST LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER, BUT IS CLOSE TO $1 MILLION SHORT OF ITS PRICE TAG SET BY THE WORK'S PRIVATE OWNERS. THE LOUVRE HAS UNTIL THE END OF JANUARY TO RAISE THE FUNDS, WITHOUT WHICH IT FEARS THE MASTERPIECE COULD GO TO ANOTHER PRIVATE COLLECTOR AND NEVER GO ON PUBLIC DISPLAY, OR WORSE, BE TAKEN OUT OF FRANCE. PAINTED IN 1531, THE WORK IS AN IRONIC AND PROVOCATIVE TAKE OF THE RENAISSANCE THEME OF THE THREE GRACES, DEPICTING THE NUDES IN A MILDLY DARING POSE THAT THE LOUVRE BELIEVES COULD MAKE IT A HEADLINING PIECE OF ITS COLLECTIONS. THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE TABLEAU HAS CHOSEN TO CAP HER NUDITY WITH AN EYE-CATCHING FEATHERED RED HAT, WHILE THE WOMAN TO HER LEFT LEANS NONCHALANTLY ON HER NEIGHBOR, HOLDING ONE BENT LEG UP BEHIND HER BUTTOCK. AL THREE ARE WEARING CHUNKY CHAIN NECKLACES. BUT THE DECISION BY THE STATE-FUNDED MUSEUM TO APPEAL TO THE FRENCH PUBLIC'S GENEROSITY HAS ANGERED SOME PEOPLE, GIVEN WIDESPREAD DISILLUSIONMENT OVER RECENT POLITICAL FUNDING SCANDALS AND ALLEGATIONS OF TAX EVASION BY WEALTHY INDIVIDUALS. '(SARKOZY) OR L'OREAL'S BETTENCOURT SHOULD BUY IT AND GIVE IT TO THE LOUVRE SO THAT MILLIONS OF VISITORS CAN THINK OF THEM WHEN THEY WALK PAST IT', ONE READER OF DAILY LE FIGARO SAID IN AN ONLINE POST. THEY WERE REFERRING TO PRESIDENT SARKOZY, WHOSE NEW PRESIDENTIAL PLANE COST AN ESTIMATED $90 MILLION, AND SCANDAL-HIT L'OREAL HEIRESS LILIANE BETTENCOURT, FRANCE'S RICHEST WOMAN. PEOPLE WHO GIVE DONATIONS FOR THE PAINTING WILL BE LISTED AS DONORS ON THE LOUVRE'S WEBSITE AND IN PUBLICITY DOCUMENTS.