Art is universal – no country should claim a masterpiece for their own

Two Rembrandt portraits have been jointly bought by France and the Netherlands. Why not, when art belongs to us all?

There was a weighty meeting between two international leaders at the UN this week. But it did not involve war. It was about art. François Hollande and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte shook hands on an extraordinary deal that means a pair of portraits by Rembrandt will be bought jointly from a member of the Rothschild family by the Netherlands and France, and shown alternately at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Louvre in Paris.

Are there any precedents for two countries agreeing to share a painting instead of engaging in a vicious “art war” with one another?

Continue reading...