SPANISH MINISTER ORDERS INQUIRY INTO MUSEUM’S HANDLING OF GUERNICA

Pablo Picasso’s antiwar masterpiece was shown in galleries across Europe and the world without any damage being done. But now back in Spain, it seems Picasso’s Guernica may have come to some harm, reports Graham Keeley in The Independent. Spain’s culture minister, Cesar Antonio Molina, has ordered an investigation into possible “irregularities in the movement” of the canvas. Molina told the Spanish parliament he had ordered the inquiry following claims in the Spanish daily ABC about the way Guernica had been handled in May 2006. The paper claimed the painting had undergone an X-ray and its mountings had been changed in a delicate operation. It also published pictures showing the fragile state of the canvas. Molina asked for the report to be ready in the next few days, when specialists will be called in to determine if the painting had been handled properly. A spokesman for the Reina Sofia Museum said the painting was dusted once a year and taken off the wall for cleaning every ten years. In a statement, the museum said, “This operation was carried out last year in May and there was no risk of danger to the work.”