National treasure of France

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When Boating Party was declared a National Treasure in 2020, LVMH made a EUR43 million (EUR45.3 million in 2023) donation so that France could purchase it in 2022. G. Caillebotte - La Partie de Bateau.jpg
When Boating Party was declared a National Treasure in 2020, LVMH made a €43 million (€45.3 million in 2023) donation so that France could purchase it in 2022.

A national treasure of France is a cultural good of major importance to the heritage of France from the point of view of art, history, or archaeology. It is officially designated as such when a particular good has been the subject of a refusal of an export certificate, which temporarily prevents its exit from the territory of France. [2] Once authorities confer national treasure status on an object, they have 30 months (during which the object may not leave France) to raise the funds for its purchase. [3] If France acquires a declared treasure, this entitles its seller to exercise a 90% tax reduction. [4] Of the 266 items declared a national treasure in the first 30 years of the program, nearly 75% had been successfully acquired by France. [3]

Contents

Recent historical examples

Gustave Caillebotte's 1877–78 painting, Boating Party , was described as the most important national treasure acquired by the French Republic in the history of the National Treasure program. [5] Boating Party had been retained by Caillebotte's descendants until a donation by LVMH made it possible for the Musée d'Orsay to acquire the declared national treasure for $47million ($50.5 million in 2024) [6] or €43 million (€45.3 million in 2023) in 2022. [1] In 2021, Caillebotte's Young Man at His Window (also a National Treasure of France) was sold by the estate of Edwin L. Cox at auction at Christie's New York to the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles for $53 million ($61.5 million in 2024) [7] or €48.9 million (€55.9 million in 2023), [5] marking the Getty's first Caillebotte work. [8]

If a declared item is being listed at auction in France, the auction for that item can be shut down as it was in 2017 when the original version of Marquis de Sade's 1785 novel The 120 Days of Sodom , which was appraised at €6 million (€7.3 million in 2023) or £5.3 million (£7 million in 2023), and André Breton's Surrealist Manifesto , which was appraised at €4million (€4.8 million in 2023), were listed at an Aguttes auction house in Paris. [9]

The export of The Mocking of Christ was denied via the National Treasure process. It is now at the Louvre. La Derision du Christ - Cimabue - Musee du Louvre Peintures RFML.PE.2023.33.1 - apres restauration.jpg
The export of The Mocking of Christ was denied via the National Treasure process. It is now at the Louvre.

If the auction has been completed, an item can be declared a national treasure to halt export and allow 30 months to attempt to raise funds as was the case with The Mocking of Christ , which had been won at auction in 2019 for €24.2 million (€28.4 million in 2023) or $26.8 million ($33 million in 2024). In 2023, this work landed in the Louvre. [10] [11]

National treasures remain at risk of unsavory and illegal activity. In November 2024, a national treasure work of 138 figures encrusted with diamonds and rubies set in marble, known as Via Vitae, was stolen from the Hiéron Museum in Paris. Its estimated value at the time was €7m (£5.8m). [12]

Criteria

National treasures of France are defined in article L.111-1 of the French heritage code:

References

  1. 1 2 Gaschka, Catherine and John Leicester (January 30, 2023). "France is buying an impressionist masterpiece for $43 million a little help from luxury goods giant LVMH". Fortune . Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 23, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  2. ↑ "Qu'est-ce qu'un trésor national ?". Connaissance des Arts. December 22, 2006. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Godard, Léopoldine (September 12, 2023). "La partie de bateau, chef-d'œuvre de Caillebotte et trésor national, est arrivé au musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon". Tribune de Lyon (in French). Archived from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  4. ↑ "La « Partie de bateau », un Trésor national qui accoste au musée d'Orsay" (in French). Ministry of Culture. January 31, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  5. 1 2 "Caillebotte painting worth €43m acquired by France's Musée d'Orsay". www.rfi.fr/. April 2, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  6. ↑ "France buys new masterpiece 'Boating Party' for Orsay museum at $47 million". FOX News. Associated Press. January 30, 2023. Archived from the original on December 9, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  7. ↑ Marcus, J.S. (November 17, 2021). "'We had to give it our best shot': inside the Getty's record-setting Caillebotte acquisition". The Art Newspaper . Archived from the original on July 23, 2025. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  8. ↑ "Getty Museum Acquires Gustave Caillebotte's Iconic Young Man at His Window". J. Paul Getty Museum. November 11, 2021. Archived from the original on January 22, 2025. Retrieved July 20, 2025.
  9. ↑ "France saves Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom from auction". Guardian . Agence France-Presse. December 18, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Cimabue painting to be declared national treasure, kept in France". Medievalists.net. December 2019. Archived from the original on November 8, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
  11. ↑ Guy, Jack (November 16, 2023). "Long-lost $26 million masterpiece found in kitchen heads to the Louvre after 4-year campaign". CNN . Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Armed gang steal jewels from French museum's £6m 'national treasure'". Guardian . Agence France-Presse. November 22, 2024. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
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