Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/FRANCE: To increase Amiens’ chances of winning the title of European Capital of Culture, the mayor of the northern French city has requested American singer Madonna to lend the community a 19th-century artwork that was lost during World War I and may have been purchased by the pop star.
The Jérôme-Martin Langlois painting “Diana and Endymion,” which shows the beautiful Endymion and the Roman goddess Diana gazing fondly at each other, was previously on exhibit in an Amiens Museum but was destroyed by German bombs in 1918.
The painting—or one virtually similar to it—went up for auction in New York in 1989, and Madonna paid $1.3 million for it, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.
Representative for Madonna did not respond
A representative for Madonna did not respond right away when Reuters emailed her for comment. Amiens, France, the birthplace of French President Emmanuel Macron, is hoping to host the 2028 European Capital of Culture.
“We have applied to be the European Capital of Culture in 2028, but we agree whatsoever with the legal acquisition you have made. Therefore, I ask you to lend us your artwork this year for this special event, “Brigitte Fouré, the mayor of Amiens, stated in a video uploaded to Facebook.
The state purchased the artwork in 1873 after the French King Louis XVIII ordered it for the Diane hall in the Versailles castle. Before World War I, according to Fouré, the artwork was likely lent by the Louvre to the Amiens Museum, where it was lost.
On November 12 and 13, 2023, Madonna will perform in Paris, slightly less than two hours by train from Amiens, as part of her recently announced European dates for her “The Celebration Tour.”
