[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bayeuxtapestry.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Bayeux Tapestry is set for its big moment at the British Museum this fall, but the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0is dishing on how the loan came to be.<\/p>\n \n\tIn a feature published Tuesday, reporter Alex Marshall reveals the many behind-the-scenes negotiations that brought the famed Romanesque-style textile artwork depicting the 1066 Norman invasion back home to the UK.<\/p>\n \n\tThe most recent loan request was far from the first: the UK had previously asked for the work in 1953, 1966, and 1980. So what changed? As Marshall tells it, Chris Bryant, a senior UK official, went to the Cannes Film Festival last year to meet with Rachida Dati, France\u2019s then\u2013culture minister. (Dati, a controversial figure for her right-wing views, stepped down in February to run for mayor of Paris.) At Cannes, Dati arrived 25 minutes late to a 30-minute meeting, at which point she told Bryant that she had good news on the tapestry, but that he had to, in Marshall\u2019s words, \u201cget on his knees and propose.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019ve already got a husband,’\u201d Bryant told the\u00a0Times<\/em>. \u201cSo do I,\u201d Dati replied, according to Bryant. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with polyamory?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBryant said he did get down on one knee. Several weeks later, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the loan agreement at the British Museum.<\/p>\n \n\tBryant\u2019s telling is hardly the triumphal story that the Brits would no doubt like to spin. But, hey, a win is a win.<\/p>\n \n\tThe tapestry is set to go on view from September 2026 to July 2027, and tickets for the exhibition are already sold out through December. Additional tickets will go on sale in October and January. The British Museum has said it anticipates it will be one of the most visited exhibitions in the institution\u2019s two-and-a-half-century history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/bayeux-tapestry-loan-british-official-plea-1234794883\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bayeuxtapestry.jpg?w=1024″] The Bayeux Tapestry is set for its big moment at the British Museum this fall, but the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0is dishing on how the loan came to be. In a feature published Tuesday, reporter Alex Marshall reveals the many behind-the-scenes negotiations that brought the famed Romanesque-style textile artwork depicting the 1066 Norman invasion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2092377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2092377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2092377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2092377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2092377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}