This is a story with somewhat ambiguous and indistinct contours.
Apparently the Uffizi Galleries in Florence has engaged in a legal battle against French couturier Jean Paul Gaultier.
The matter is simple, at least in its description: Jean Paul Gaultier released on the market in April a capsule collection called “Le Musée”, and consisting of a series of garments featuring prints depicting famous Renaissance paintings, including Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”, preserved at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence.
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This, according to Italy’s most famous museum institution in the world, violates the Cultural Heritage Code, according to which “Gaultier used the image of the masterpiece kept in the museum to make some garments, even advertising them on his own social networks and website without asking permission, agreeing on the terms of use and paying the fee as it is instead expressly required by law”, despite the fact that the artwork is in the public domain.
Apparently, however, despite the sending of a formal warning notice by the Galleries’ legal department and addressed to Jean Paul Gaultier, asking him to either cease selling the garments marked with the depiction of “The Birth of Venus” or to contact the museum to find a business arrangement, the French fashion house ignored all warnings.
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For now, the only official “response” seems to be the removal of the “under investigation” garments from the online shop of Jean Paul Gaultier’s website but they still remain for sale on SSENSE. But that was not enough.
In fact, the Uffizi Galleries specified that: “the Uffizi has taken legal action: a legal action has already been initiated that includes, in addition to the withdrawal of the ‘illegitimate’ clothes, also a claim for damages in favor of the museum”.
We will keep you updated on the continuation of this question.
