"It would have been irresponsible to allow the shipment of paintings...of such national importance and unparalleled value without appropriate preparation or a sufficient guarantee," said Gergely Jakó, a county official who oversees the museum.
Jakó said the museum failed to meet conditions spelled out in statutes published by the predecessor of the Ministry of Education and Culture on shipping Hungarian art works to foreign exhibitions. He expressed his regret that the exhibition in Finland of Rippl-Rónai's works would not open on the scheduled date.
The 18 paintings, estimated to be worth HUF 1.5 billion, were to have been loaded into a tractor-trailer on Thursday to be taken to Finland, but the museum's art historian, János Milán Horváth, deemed the shipment too risky.
Museum director Ferenc Winkler told the local daily that he thought the paintings were sufficiently insured for the trip. He declined to make any further comments
József Rippl-Rónai (1861-1927), one of Hungary's most famous painters, was born in Kaposvár. He served as an assistant to Mihály Munkácsy in Paris, where he made a name for himself.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
