WORLD
Anonymous donation saves the "Bathavian Oath of Allegiance"
Baku, November 28, AZERTAC
Anonymous donation saves the Rembrandt's famous and internationally recognized monumental painting "Bathavian Oath of Allegiance", according to Teller Report. The painting has hung at the National Museum in Stockholm since 1864.
The museum does not own the artwork, but has had it "on loan" from the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts - since 2018 for an annual fee of SEK 400,000. A discussion arose about the painting instead lending the painting to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where Rembrandt's other masterpiece "The Night Watch" hangs.
The decision was made at the meeting of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts on Monday evening and the decision was unanimous. An anonymous donor has stepped in and contributed a sum of money that allows the Royal Academy of Fine Arts to continue to deposit the painting at Nationalmuseum.
"The agreement has been made possible through a donation and the donor wants to support two important institutions in Swedish cultural life in this way. Both are in need of financial support to nurture and develop their respective assignments. The fact that Rembrandt's work can continue to be shown in Nationalmuseum is crucial to the donor's decision," writes the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in a press release.
According to information, the "rent" for the artwork will continue to be SEK 400,000 per year.
The "Bathalo Oath of Allegiance to Claudius Civilus" has existed in Sweden since the 1700s - and is often highlighted as one of the true treasures of the Swedish museum world.
But this autumn, there has been a debate about the painting, which has hung at the National Museum in Stockholm since 1864. The museum does not own the artwork, but has had it "on loan" from the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts - since 2018 for an annual fee of SEK 400,000.
When Nationalmuseum's finances became strained, the museum management explained that the rent was too expensive. A discussion arose about the Royal Academy of Fine Arts instead lending the painting to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where Rembrandt's other masterpiece "The Night Watch" hangs.
The proposal aroused strong criticism, even within the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts.
One of our most important cultural heritage sites is being haggled. There is a risk that it will be a cultural scandal that spills over into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, but also into the National Museum and the Ministry of Culture," said Carl-Johan Malmberg, who has written a book about the painting and who himself has been an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts since 2016.