Leonardo's lady a tricky passenger

According to the Dziennik Polski daily, a number of factors are slowing up the transportation of the Renaissance masterpiece, which belongs to the aristocratic Czartoryski clan (the family's historic museum in Krakow is currently in the throes of a revamp).

The paper highlights that conditions insist that the flight has no stopovers on the way. Likewise, the carrying cases for the painting must be able to pass through the plane doors seamlessly.

The decision last month of Poland's General Conservator of National Heritage Piotr Zuchowski to allow for the painting to travel to Madrid and Berlin in succession was virulently criticised by many in conservation circles.

A panel of experts voted against the loan, but the group was overruled by Zuchowski in a reversal of his own decision. Clearance for the painting to travel to London's National Gallery later in the year had earlier been obtained, a move that also provoked protests.

However, chairman of the Czartoryski Foundation, Count Adam Zamoyski, has said that loaning the painting is a positive venture.

“It's an opportunity to make people realise that Poland has more to offer than just plumbers,” he declared.

His cousin, Prince Adam Czartoryski, the heir to the collection, likewise told journalists in Krakow that the king of Spain – also a cousin - had personally asked whether the painting could be included in the forthcoming exhibition of Polish treasures in Madrid's Royal Palace.

The last time that the painting travelled by plane was to an exhibition in Milwaukee, U.S., in 2002. Transport to a subsequent show in Budapest was organised by road. (nh/pg)