French city asks Madonna to loan artwork they lost in war

The mayor of Amiens, in northern France, has requested for singer Madonna to loan them a painting that the city lost when Germany bombed it in 1918.

Brigitte Foure, the mayor of the city, posted a video on Facebook asking the pop star if she would let them borrow the painting.

She said that the 19th-century work, "Diana and Endymion" by artist Jerome-Martin Langlois went missing after World War I, and believes that the painting is now owned by the US pop star. She added that the painting was likely lent to the Amiens Museum by the Louvre before World War I, and was declared missing after the war.

"We do not dispute in any way the legal acquisition that you have made but we are candidates to be European Capital of Culture in 2028. So, I would like that on this occasion, this year, you could lend us your painting," Foure said in the video, adding that it would allow "the inhabitants to discover this work and enjoy it."

The artwork was sold to Madonna for $1.3 million at an auction in 1989. An art conservator noticed it in a photograph of her published in the magazine Paris Match.

It depicts the Roman goddess Diana looking lovingly at Endymion. It was commissioned by King Louis XVIII of France for a room in the Palace of Versailles. It was bought by the government in 1873.

Diana was the goddess of the moon, while Endymion was a young shepherd. It is said that she fell in love with him instantly when she saw him sleeping in a cave. She then cast him into an immortal sleep so she could adore him forever, the ancient poets wrote about the myth.

The painting, however, is 1.2 inches smaller than the original artwork. It also does not have the date of the work or the artist's stamp; therefore, the experts believe that it is either a copy or the original with the date and signature removed, according to Le Figaro.