Louvre president Laurence des Cars at the Sénat, Paris, December 17, 2025. QUENTIN DE GROEVE/HANS LUCAS/AFP
Two figures, two worlds apart. Jean-Luc Martinez – who served as president of the Louvre from 2013 to 2021 – and his successor, Laurence des Cars, appeared before the Sénat's Cultural Affairs Committee on December 16 and 17. The hearings aimed to clarify the conditions surrounding the handover, in particular the failure to transmit a crucial 2019 Van Cleef & Arpels report highlighting the vulnerability of the Galerie d'Apollon, as well as the reasons for the delay in the security master plan, which was launched in 2017 but is not scheduled for implementation until 2026.
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A game of ping-pong unfolded between the two curators, who could not be more different, during these consecutive hearings. Their rivalry goes back years. In 2013, when des Cars was already aiming to lead the Louvre after Henri Loyrette's departure, her candidacy was set aside in favor of Martinez, whom then president François Hollande considered more diplomatic. Eight years later, when Martinez sought a third term amid controversy, President Emmanuel Macron chose des Cars instead. Since then, she has worked to correct certain mistakes, while also unraveling some of her predecessor's achievements.
