LVMH to support effort to bring renaissance masterpiece back to France
24/10/2017
Paris’s Louvre museum has launched the campaign to acquire a Book of Hours prayer book made in 1532 for King François I. Its cover is metal encrusted with precious stones but its pages are parchment. Experts have described it as a masterpiece and, because of its excellent condition, as a very rare example of renaissance art.
The book found its way to the UK at the start of the eighteenth century and is now owned by a private collector there. The UK government has attempted to stop it from leaving the country, but the Louvre is now determined to raise enough money to bring it back to France and LVMH has promised to help. In 2016, the UK government said the book was valued at around €10 million.
Share this story:
