The painting "Venus and Adonis", which is now presented at the exhibition "Venice of the Renaissance. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese" at the Pushkin Museum, recently was assigned Tiziano. The Pushkin Museum hopes to raise money to buy paintings through the Internet and sponsors

the Work "Venus and Adonis" in 2005, bought at auction in Sep-Жермен-ан-Ле (town 19 km from Paris) to a Russian collector. On sale it was like the work of an unknown master, a copy of a painting by Titian from Prado. The new owner decided to make a re-examination of a researcher of the Pushkin Museum of art by V. E. Markova. She came to the conclusion that he bought in Saint-Жермен-ан-Ле the canvas is not a copy and the original, and perhaps even the source of the work in the Prado. With attribution Markova agreed expert on Venetian painting Francesco Valkanova. The two-year restoration, conducted in Venice, revealed a large number of author's corrections, especially in the depiction of faces and hands. Also in the composition of the paint layer was found to rare, but used in the Arsenal of Titian smaltino pigment on the basis of lapis lazuli. Another argument in favor of the authorship of Titian — characteristic of his Mature period method of applying the new raw layer of paint on the wet the previous layer (su bagnato bagnato — literally, "raw raw").

In 2014, the Prado Museum conducted a study for his painting of Titian's "Venus and Adonis". The x-ray showed a minimal amount of author's corrections. Moreover, the preparatory drawing beneath the paint layer of the Madrid picture, as it turned out, was transferred by the method of copying with Moscow the painting "Venus and Adonis". Conducted the study the staff of the Prado, including the curator of Italian painting Miguel Falomir, and a British expert Paul Joannides, came to the conclusion that Russian Titian served as model for the Madrid and subsequent numerous repetitions of the author.

In the Wake of this sensational discovery the Pushkin Museum announced its plan to repurchase new paintings by Titian in his collection. The Director of the Pushkin Museum Marina Loshak had hoped to collect the necessary for the acquisition of "tens of millions of dollars or euros," manage, including through the Internet. "Such things are, of course, society together, it can not only be a mission of people, Museum, or a narrow circle of Trustees. The Museum has too many needs, and our friends and patrons to help us," — said M. Loshak.

Precedents of purchase of paintings by famous masters in the public museums are numerous, but not us. Especially in this part are allocated to British citizens. As a rule, it is about the redemption of the British plant, when some-то well-known masterpiece, dozens of years hung on loan in the Museum, the owner — a Lord or Duke — suddenly decides to sell abroad. When the British Ministry of culture imposes a temporary ban on the export of this painting in order to give the British a chance to buy it. Often this can be done (as it was with the works of Edouard Manet, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Titian), but often wanting to buypicture to people is not (as it did with record Turner, uplyvshy as a result, in Getty, or the first portrait of free black brushes William Hoare). Similar stories happen not only in Britain but in France, for example, where public donations helped to buy for the Louvre a work of Lucas Cranach the Elder "Three graces". From European precedents of our case with Titian is distinguished, perhaps, only one: too fresh and not yet settled in the minds of the Museum community, the attribution of the work to be redemption.

the Material was prepared by Maria Onuchina, AI

Sources: press-релиз Pushkin Museum. Pushkin tvkultura.ru, artinvestment.ru