“A Masterpiece On Your Wrist” Is The Latest Journey Between Vacheron Constantin And The Louvre
Since 2019, Vacheron Constantin and the Louvre Museum have maintained a partnership that celebrates the beauty and a commitment to safeguarding and passing on heritage in all its forms.
This year this partnership is renewed with the new offer “A masterpiece on your wrist”, Vacheron Constantin is now offering its customers the possibility of creating a single-piece edition Les Cabinotiers watch, the dial of which will feature an enamel reproduction of an artwork from the Louvre chosen by the purchaser. Most of these works are not on display.
A certificate of authenticity from the museum will certify the reproduction. The experience will be accompanied by a private tour of the Louvre in the company of its experts and the Manufacture Vacheron Constantin to meet its master watchmakers and master artisans.
In 2020 a bespoke Les Cabinotiers watch was auctioned off at the “Bid for the Louvre” sale organized to benefit the museum’s solidarity projects. The buyer who won the auction chose the painting by Pierre Paul Rubens, “La lutte pour l’étendard de la Bataille d’Anghiari”, which was faithfully reproduced in miniature on the enamel dial of this watch.
The drawing by Pierre Paul Rubens has an extraordinary historical background. During his stay in Italy during the early 17th century, the Flemish painter is said to have purchased and then retouched in ink, wash and gouache this sheet depicting the Battle of Anghiari, a vast composition that Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to create for the Great Council Chamber of the Palazzo della Signoria – which subsequently became Palazzo Vecchio – in Florence. Regarded as one of the artist’s great masterpieces, the huge painting – celebrating a famous victory of the armies of Pope Eugene IV and the republics of Venice and Florence over those of the Duke of Milan – was left unfinished by Leonardo in 1506 and deteriorated very quickly. Virtually nothing remained when in the mid16th century, at the request of Duke Cosimo I, Giorgio Vasari restructured the room to become the present Salone de’ Cinquecento and covered the walls with a new decor exalting the deeds of the Medici house
Finally, it should be noted that although these small masterpieces are within reach of very few people, nothing prevents us from being able to admire and appreciate the excellent work of these true artisans of the time, just like they say the best things in life are free and are available to everyone.
