Louvre Halts Sale of Record-Smashing Strawberries Painting by Chardin
A still-life by 18th-century French painter Jean Siméon Chardin sold to a U.S. art dealer for an artist record of €24.3m ($26.8 million) in Paris last week. The sale has now been put on hold by the Louvre. The Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, told Le Figaro that she has requested that Basket of Wild Strawberries be classed as “a national treasure”, and is seeking funds to buy it, reports The Art Newspaper. Exhibited at the Salon of 1761, the painting of a humble mound ...