London's National Gallery furious over Leonardo ticket re-sales
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
28.11.2011 15:06
The National Gallery in London has struck out against web sites reselling tickets to the current Leonardo da Vinci exhibition, as punters queue up to see the Polish-owned star of the show, Lady with an Ermine.
"We are obviously very disappointed at the resale of these tickets for profit," a spokeswoman from the gallery told the BBC, amid claims that individuals were selling tickets for as much as 400 pounds (2100 zloty), some 25 times over the official price.
"The resale of tickets for the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition is against the terms and conditions of their sale and this information is printed on the tickets,” she stressed.
The gallery has already contacted web sites that have allowed customers to resell their tickets, with the request that they “stop immediately.”
The exhibition, “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan”, is being billed by the gallery as “the most complete display of Leonardo's rare surviving paintings ever held.
“This unprecedented exhibition – the first of its kind anywhere in the world – brings together sensational international loans never before seen in the UK.”
The face of the show throughout the gallery's promotional material is Cecilia Gallerani, as immortalised in Lady with an Ermine.
The painting, one of only a few extant portraits by the Milanese master, is owned by the Polish Foundation of the Czartoryski Princes.
Krakow's Czartoryski Museum is currently in the throes of a major revamp, and the loan of the painting helped raise costs for the project.
“Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” runs until 5 February 2012. (nh)