Art loan isn’t safe, Russia says

Russia said Thursday that Britain had failed to provide sufficient protection from private legal claims for a major exhibition of paintings owned by Russian museums, and that it wouldn’t loan the works until it received further guarantees.

The statement from Russia’s federal culture agency came in response to a British government claim that it had assured Russia that the French and Russian masterpieces would be protected under British law.

The exhibition, called “From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings 1870-1925,” which includes paintings by Matisse, Van Gogh and other Impressionist and Postimpressionist works, was to open in London’s Royal Academy on Jan. 26.

Russia’s culture agency has said it fears the guarantees are not strong enough to prevent the descendants of Russian art patrons and collectors from seizing some of the paintings in lawsuits. One such descendant has claimed some of the works were looted from his family by the Bolsheviks.