La Jeunesse de la Peinture - Cimabue paves the way: An exceptional loan from the Louvre

A pilot experiment in cultural decentralization, the Petit Palais has been home since 1976 to a collection of over 320 paintings of "Italian primitives" built up by the Marquis Campana, a passionate collector of Italian art in the 19th century. Deposited by the Musée du Louvre on the initiative of Michel Laclotte, the museum's former Chairman and Director, this collection covers a wide range of forms and subjects in Italian painting from the 13th to the 16th century. By its nature and volume, it is the Louvre's most exceptional repository of paintings in France.

The exceptional loan of a work by Cimabue, La Dérision du Christ (circa 1285-1290), a national treasure acquired by the Louvre in 2023, marks the first highlight of this strengthened partnership between the two institutions. To mark the event, the Musée du Petit Palais is organizing an exhibition around the painting, in dialogue with its collections. A true ambassador for the "Musée du Petit Palais-Louvre en Avignon" project, this loan prefigures the future Petit Palais, a museum dedicated to the origins of Italian and Western painting.