Slick Louvre rescues a Lucas Cranach painting

The Louvre has managed to raise the final €1m (£850,000) it needed to purchase a breathtakingly beautiful painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder that, incredibly, has never been on public display before. It already had €3m from corporate donors and its own funds, and last month launched an internet campaign to get the remainder. It was an undeniably slick campaign from which lessons can learned. Something like 5,000 people responded, offering everything from a euro to €40,000, and they easily beat their deadline of 31 January. The painting, called The Three Graces and dating from 1531, is a wonderfully luminous work showing three naked women wearing necklaces and one lady sporting a rather jaunty red hat, and will displayed for a month in a room where every donor will be listed.