STOLEN WATTEAU

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 August 1939, Page 9

STOLEN WATTEAU

PROTECTION OF MASTERPIECES.

The theft of the yfattcau picture "L'lndiffcrenf 'from the Louvre has raised the question of the protection of paintings in the museums of France. The proposal lias several times been made that the English method of fixing the paintings firmly to the wall should be adopted, thus making it impossible to detach a picture easily- and quickly. To this it is replied that the English plan is perhaps too effective, and that if it should be desired to remove pictures rapidly to a place of safety, as in the case of fire or air-raid, the task would prove well nigh impossible. The thousands of pictures of the Louvre, on the contrary, can be packed away into the deep cellars in a few hours. Another advantage of the hanging of .pictures by cords and wires, as in the Louvre, is that the angle can be easily adjusted, so that each picture is seen in the best possible light. There is a laboratory in the Louvre where oil paintings are examined by X-ray apparatus, and chemical analysis is made of the paint, used. This laboratory has often been able to discover pictures hidden beneath other pictures, j and the analysis of the method of wor-1 king, showing stroke by stroke, and of the paint used, has enabled the identification of many a doubtful picture to be established.