French mayor asks Madonna to loan painting that belonged to city

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) - The mayor of Amiens in northern France asked Madonna to lend a painting that belonged to the city and dates more than 100 years, according to media reports.

Amiens applied to the European Capital of Culture 2028, Mayor Brigitte Foure said on Monday on Facebook.

A recent article in the French newspaper, Le Figaro, helped discover that a painting of the city might be part of Madonna's collection, said Foure.

She said the painting, which was in the Museum of Fine Arts of Amiens before World War I, disappeared after the city was bombed. The museum is now called the Picardie Museum.

"Indeed, I learned that you had bought a painting, 'Diane and Endymion,' a work of art by Martin Langlois, a few years ago,” Foure told Madonna in a public video.

The mayor said the painting was probably loaned to the Louvre Museum by the Museum of Amiens before the war.

"We do not dispute in any way the legal acquisition that you made of this work," said Foure, as she asked Madonna to loan the painting until 2028 "so that the inhabitants can rediscover this work and enjoy it."

French broadcaster BFMTV cited Le Figaro's investigation, according to which a similar work without a date or signature reappeared in 1989 at an auction in New York.

Madonna bought 'Diane and Endymion for €1.2 million ($1.3 million).