Rakewell has been stirred by the high-flown sentiments and diplomatic politesse on display this week at the British Museum. At the opening attended by His Majesty King Charles III and President Emmanual Macron, both heads of state made their addresses in both French and English. Referring to the entente amicale that this unprecedented loan represents, President Macron and the King covered a lot of ground, from Lancelot du Lac (cast here as an early French cultural attaché for joining King Arthur’s ancient British endeavour) to The Tempest (‘What is past is prologue’). The chair of the British Museum, George Osborne, kept it more modern by reminding us of the Enlightenment (cast here as a Franco-British intellectual expeditionary force) and making a solid joke about 1066 being the nation’s pin-code. The new British prime minister, Andy Burnham, fresh from outlining the priorities of his government in the House of Commons, made a wry allusion to Harold as a northerner who came south for a crown, but otherwise kept it brief.
All very statesmanlike then. More amusement, however, as well as more information can be found in the form of an interview the British Museum’s director, Nicholas Cullinan, gave to Le Monde. While he got across the points the British Museum is keen to make, Le Monde‘s Roxana Azimi got in some hilariously frank questions. After Cullinan pointed out that in exchange for the Tapestry, the people of France are being loaned, next spring, the Sutton Hoo Treasure and the Lewis Chessmen, Azimi said: ‘The Sutton Hoo Treasure means nothing to the French’: the British have got the better of the bargain, it seems, while the French are receiving objects that, although valuable, are – in Azimi’s words – ‘not very impressive’. Rakewell will leave this one to the Anglo-Saxon and medieval experts, once they have finished spluttering in outrage.
While this week has belonged to the British Museum – and will hopefully raise its profile and help it towards the £1bn it requires to refurbish the permanent galleries in what is known as the Western Range – it could, of course, have been the Victoria and Albert Museum’s moment instead. (Many considered the V&A the frontrunner as a venue after it signed a memorandum of understanding for a research and conservation agreement with Bayeux in 2022.), But, as the Le Monde interview reminded us, the BM pipped its South Kensington cousin to the post because, in its director’s words, it is ‘the only space in London capable of displaying the tapestry laid flat in a single, continuous 70-metre line’. Don’t be surprised if, in the coming days, you see Rakewell roaming the galleries of the V&A with a tape measure in hand.
