The prize of the collection is Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine but it includes works by Rembrandt and thousands of other paintings now housed in the National Museum of Krakow under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.

For reasons unknown, Poland’s culture minister is now raising the idea of purchasing the art from Prince Adam Karol Czartoryski who lives in Madrid but is the president of the family foundation:

The ministry told AFP on Wednesday that Minister Piotr Glinski had “announced steps to finally set the status of the collection,” […] The ministry wants to ensure the collection never leaves Poland, which is a possibility as long as it is owned by the foundation.

But Marian Wolski, head of the Czartoryski Foundation in Krakow, said a takeover of the collection by the state might hit legal obstacles as its statutes stipulate it is “non-transferable and indivisible”.

Poland mulls buying Da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine” (AFP/ArtDaily)