The Florence Offices announced Monday that they will prosecute the French house Jean Paul Gaultier for “unauthorized use of Botticelli’s Venus,” an iconic painting of the Italian Renaissance.
“The fashion house used the image of the masterpiece that is kept in the museum (…) to make several garments, of which it published photos on its site and social networks,” the museum explains in a press release.
Several pieces with the image of the painting
The Offices attached to their press release screenshots of the site and the Instagram account of the famous Parisian house that shows the clothes in question. Among them, a 150-euro scarf called “The Birth of Venus”, in which the image of the goddess emerging from the waters is reproduced, veiling her nudity with her long blonde hair.
Gaultier “did it without asking for permission (…) and paying the corresponding fees, as expressly provided by law,” denounce the Offices, which claim to have asked the fashion house to withdraw the garments in question from the market or to contact the museum to reach a commercial agreement.
“The letter sent in April to Jean Paul Gaultier was ignored,” laments the museum, which therefore announces that it has initiated “legal actions that provide, in addition to the removal of illegitimate clothing, a claim for damages” .
The Uffizi in Florence, open to the public since 1765, preserves more than 8,000 m2 of masterpieces of Italian painting and, in particular, of the greatest Renaissance painters: in addition to Sandro Botticelli, the visitor can discover works by Leonardo da Vinci , Michelangelo , Raphael, or even Caravaggio or Titian.
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) is one of the most important painters of the Italian Renaissance. His two most famous works, preserved in the Uffizi, are the birth of venus Y Spring.
Source: BFM TV
