Rembrandt row settled by Franco-Dutch deal

PanARMENIAN.Net - For weeks, France and the Netherlands wrangled over the fate of a pair of 17th-Century wedding portraits by Dutch master Rembrandt, according to BBC News.

While the Dutch government and Rijksmuseum tried to secure both paintings for the nation, France sought to buy one for the Louvre in Paris.

But the €160m ($180m) price tag proved a deal breaker for the Dutch.

And, after tortuous negotiations the two nations have finally agreed to buy the paintings together.

"A couple of months ago it still seemed unthinkable, but now two magnificent portraits will be together in public, in two world-famous museums," said Rijksmuseum director Wim Pijbes, clearly delighted at the news.

The life-size portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, a well-to-do couple from Amsterdam in their early 20s, were painted by Rembrandt van Rijn at the start of his career in 1634 and are seen as unique.

They were bought by the Rothschild family in 1877 and taken to Paris, despite Dutch government attempts to stop the paintings leaving the country.

They did go on display in the Netherlands in 1956 but have otherwise rarely been seen in public.