Skip to main content
Open this photo in gallery:

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly speaks in the House of Commons.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly says the Canadian museums locked in a dispute over a 1779 Jacques-Louis David painting should try to get along – but the federal government will not interfere in the conflict.

“We are not into politicizing our funding or operations of museums,” Ms. Joly told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.

“That being said, for the art piece relating to the David we believe that this important art piece should be kept here in the country and also we really hope that our museums will be able to work together to find a solution.”

The 1779 Saint Jerome Hears The Trumpet Of The Last Judgment canvas is the subject of competing interest between the National Gallery of Canada and two Quebec museums: the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée de la civilisation.

Open this photo in gallery:

Saint Jerome Hears The Trumpet Of The Last Judgment by Jacques-Louis David.HO/The Canadian Press

The two Quebec museums have said they are open to partnering with the National Gallery, but the Ottawa institution shot down that idea this week.

Notre-Dame de Quebec, a Quebec City cathedral whose parish owns the painting, said it has to sell the David to pay for its activities. The church’s curé began to approach international buyers last year when no domestic ones came through with the cash.

“The National Gallery, London, was approached and was told that the picture was available for purchase,” David Edghill, spokesperson for the British gallery, said. He said it was against gallery policy to comment on whether it actually wanted to buy the painting.

Marc Mayer, director of the National Gallery of Canada, said he was told by the British institution last year that it was surprised the painting might be available and it was interested in having it.

All the Canadian institutions say that the piece should be kept in Canada because of its history in the country, but the Quebec institutions say the art should stay in their province’s hands. It arrived in Canada in the late 1800s, and has been in Quebec City for most of the past century.

Canada’s National Gallery is selling a Marc Chagall painting at a New York auction next month to raise the funds to buy the David work. The Quebec museums have until mid-June to match the Ottawa gallery’s bid of US$5-million.

A British museum director now working in Canada says Britain’s National Gallery could never sell a masterpiece under similar circumstances.

“It is undeniably infinitely more difficult [in Britain],” said Ian Dejardin, executive director of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection north of Toronto. “There is a very powerful ethical consideration against it.”

Mr. Dejardin said the restrictions in Britain would only allow a museum to sell a work that could be shown to be a misfit in its collection and it would then be forced to offer it free to other museums in the country.

“Any deaccessioning is something you do not rush into and the National Gallery of Canada will not have rushed into this,” Mr. Dejardin said.

The Quebec government is looking into whether the painting should be given a special cultural designation that would make exportation more difficult.

Under federal law, owners of certain valuable art who wish to export it have to apply for a permit from the Canada Border Services Agency. An expert examiner must decide whether the art is of “outstanding significance and national importance” to Canada. If a permit is denied, the art’s owner can then appeal to a review board that, if it agrees with the original examiner, may delay the export for two to six months. If after that time no fair Canadian offers are made, then the CBSA may issue an export permit.

“[The law] only postpones things from leaving,” Mr. Mayer said. “No one would ever bring any major treasures of art like this to Canada if they couldn’t leave the country with it. That’s not very smart.”

The National Gallery of Canada did receive an export permit – without any notice of delay – for Chagall’s The Eiffel Tower when it sent the artwork to the Christie’s auction house. That painting is touring Christie’s international locations to drum up interest ahead of a May 15 sale.

With a report from Kate Taylor

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe