French mayor asks Madonna to loan city an artwork thought to be a masterpiece lost in World War I
- Madonna has been asked by a city in France to loan them artwork
- It is thought to be masterpiece Diana And Endymion by Jerome-Martin Langlois
- She bought it for £1million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in 1989
- The painting was acquired by the French republic in 1873
Madonna has been asked by a city in France to loan them an artwork thought to be a masterpiece lost in the war.
The superstar, 64, bought what is now thought to be Diana And Endymion by Jerome-Martin Langlois, pictured, for $1.3million (£1million) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in 1989.
The painting was acquired by the French republic in 1873 and exhibited in Amiens but was lost when the city was bombed during the First World War in 1918.
After a recent article suggested the painting, or one almost identical, reappeared in 1989 mayor Brigitte Foure issued her plea to Madonna in the hope she’ll lend it to them ahead of the city’s bid to become European capital of culture in 2028.
Madonna has been asked by a city in France to loan them an artwork pictured above thought to be a masterpiece lost in the war
The superstar pictured above bought what is now thought to be Diana And Endymion by Jerome-Martin Langlois, pictured, for $1.3million (£1million) at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in 1989
She told the pop star in a video: ‘Madonna, you probably haven’t heard of Amiens but there is a special link between you and our city.’
‘This painting is probably a work that was lent to the Amiens museum by the Louvre before the First World War, after which we lost trace of it.’
She added: ‘Clearly, we don’t contest in any way that you have acquired this work legally.’
Ms Fouré made the plea after an article in France’s Le Figaro newspaper suggested that the painting in Madonna’s possession could be the lost masterpiece.
In 2015, a curator from Amiens – birthplace of President Emmanuel Macron – noticed the painting in the background of a photo of Madonna in a magazine, taken at her home.
She paid more than three times the asking price for the painting when it went on sale in the 1980s, but no one made the connection between it and the lost Langlois at the time.
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