Former Uffizi Director Antonio Natali on Art Loans and the Law

Antonio Natali, former director of the Galleria degli Uffizi (2006–2015), revisits the controversy over art loans following public debate about the loan of Raphael's Portrait of Leo X with Two Cardinals to Rome. He recalls his 2007 list of 23 'non-loanable' works from the Uffizi, created after Leonardo's Annunciation was sent to Tokyo in 2006 despite his opposition. Natali cites Article 66, paragraph 2b of the 2004 Urbani Code, which prohibits export of works constituting the 'main core' of a museum collection. He argues that the law was circumvented for loans of Leonardo's Vitruvian Man and Landscape 8P to Paris. Natali insists that if ministers dislike a law, they should change it, not violate it. He notes the Leo X loan is domestic, so the export law does not apply, but reiterates that his list aimed to protect masterpieces from travel risks. The list included only two Botticellis, one Titian, and one Caravaggio, and he invited additions. Natali emphasizes that visitors travel to Florence specifically to see these works, and a loan disappoints them regardless of destination.