
Embroidery Known as the Bayeux Tapestry (detail)
Linen and wool – 50 x 6838 cm
Bayeux, Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux
Photo: Didier Rykner
The controversy that we are proud to have launched over the move of the Bayeux Tapestry is clearly not abating, and the English are beginning to realise the dangers that this work will face as a result of the reckless decision of the head of state.
Among the many articles reporting the warnings given by specialists, one must particularly salute this one in The Telegraph by Alan Cochrane: “The French are right - don’t lend us the Bayeux Tapestry”. That says it all, and says it well. He ends his article with these words: “[The] fabulous work is safe in Bayeux and deserves to remain there. Permanently..”
This voice is becoming less and less isolated. Let us also acknowledge Neil Jeffares, the brilliant English art historian and specialist in pastels, who has supported us from the beginning and who published on 15 August a letter in the Financial Times opposing this loan.
One of the best articles on the move of the Tapestry was also published by an English journalist, Jon Henley, in The Guardian, and you can read it here.
And yesterday, the Globe and Mail published an article entitled: “Bayeux Tapestry too fragile to be shipped to Britain, art conservators warn”.
Faced with Emmanuel Macron’s deranged determination, with little counter-power in France — civil servants being too fearful for their posts — we must hope that salvation will come from across the Channel. In this regard, the attitude of King Charles is difficult to understand, for he has on many occasions shown his interest in heritage (in stark contrast to our president). We had reported, for example, on how he saved an English castle and the works it contained from tragic dispersal: Dumfries House (see the article). Let us hope he may at last be well advised.
For, of course, our fight is not against the English. It is unbearable in this respect to see the number of fools on Twitter who think themselves entitled to insult England and its people. The aggressiveness of certain French people towards our English friends is an unfathomable stupidity, and we absolutely denounce it.
No less stupid are the fears expressed by some that the Tapestry might have been the subject of a (secret, of course) gift from Emmanuel Macron to England, or even that the country would not return it after a year. This is so foolish — and so ignorant of the rules governing loans between museums — that it is hard to believe anyone truly thinks it.
It is indeed time to recover reason. We suggest that Emmanuel Macron should start.