图片新闻【29】Flight security fears strands Vermeers on...

By Catherine Milner, Arts Correspondent
(Filed: 14/10/2001)

PRICELESS Vermeer paintings, loaned by American museums for the most successful exhibition staged at the National Gallery, are still in London because their owners are reluctant to risk putting them on a plane home.

在参加了国家美术馆有史以来最成功的展出之后，租自美国博物馆的弗美尔的无价之作现仍在伦敦展览，这一切是因为其主人不愿冒风险把它们空运回国。

Four paintings, Woman with a water pitcher; Woman with a red hat; Woman with a lute and Woman with a balance, were due to be returned soon after September 16 when the exhibition ended.

共有四幅油画 -《挤奶女工》，《戴红帽的女子》，《站在维吉那琴前的少妇》和《站在天平前的少妇》- 按计划在9月16日展出结束后要归还原主。

The pictures, which formed a significant part of the display which attracted record crowds this summer, are still hanging on the walls of the gallery because American couriers working on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, have not wanted to travel on aeroplanes to Europe.

由于纽约大都会博物馆和华盛顿国家美术馆的信使们不愿乘飞机前往欧洲，在今年夏季吸引了创记录数量参观者的这次展出上，这几幅占相当分量的展品至今还悬挂在美术馆的墙上。

"We are waiting to get the all-clear from America and to see when they want the paintings to travel" said a gallery spokesman yesterday.

“我们在等待美国那边事态平息下来，以及他们何时希望这些油画被送回去。”一名美术馆发言人昨天说。

Axel Ruger, the curator of Dutch paintings at the National Gallery said: "In the early days after the attack we thought we would be putting works at risk by shipping them.

国家美术馆荷兰画区的馆长 Axel Ruger说：“在恐怖袭击刚发生后的日子里，我们以为我们不得不冒着风险把这些艺术品运回去。”

"Also the couriers from America did not want to travel on planes at that time. So without much ado we discussed what to do - whether to put them on the walls or in storage - and decided to put them on the walls.

“并且那时美国信使们也不愿乘飞机旅行。于是没费什么周折，我们开始讨论该怎么办 – 是继续把几幅画挂在墙上还是把它们保管起来 – 最后决定继续把它们挂在墙上。”

" It's a service to our colleagues in New York but we certainly do not want to give the impression that the gallery was benefiting from what has happened in any way."

“这是对我们的纽约同行的帮助，不过我们当然不想给人以国家美术馆在趁火打劫的印象。”

The exhibition, which ran for three months and attracted 276,000 visitors featured paintings from Amsterdam, Vienna, The Hague, Budapest and private collections. Apart from the difficulty in finding couriers willing to transport the pictures, curators have also been worried that the paintings would get damaged by police officers in the process of investigating whether they are safe cargo.

此次展览历时三个月，吸引了276，000名参观者，展出了来自阿姆斯特丹、维也纳、海牙、不达佩斯以及一些私人收藏家的油画作品。除了要煞费苦心的找到愿意押送展品的信使外，馆长们还为油画在接受警方安检过程中可能受损而大伤脑筋。

"The pictures are always packaged very carefully and there were worries that they might not get properly re-packed after being investigated and get damaged" said a spokesman from the National Gallery.

“这些油画都被精心包装好，不过一想到它们在接受检查后不能被妥善的重新包装好，并因此损坏还是令人担心不已。”一位美术馆发言人说。

The gallery is not the only institution affected by the terrorist attacks. Since September 11 there has been a general slowdown in lending paintings across the world.

美术馆不是受到恐怖袭击影响的唯一公共机构。自“911” 事件以来，油画租赁业出现了世界范围内的疲软。

Until last week couriers were usually allowed to sit in the "jump seat" near the captain of the plane in order to supervise their precious cargo but that practice has now been stopped.

直到上周信使们还被允许坐在机长附近的“折叠椅席”上以保护他们昂贵货物的安全，可是如今这项待遇已被取消了。

Airlines that used to promise same-day deliveries are now holding cargo for a period of 24 to 48 hours in order to check for explosives and insurance companies are charging bigger premiums - making it much more costly for galleries to obtain adequate coverage for proposed international exhibitions.

曾承诺托运货物同日送达的航空公司，现在要羁留货物24到48小时以检查是否有爆炸物，并且保险公司也开始收取较高数额的保费，这就使为参展的国际展品投保的美术馆支付更昂贵的费用。

本文中文翻译由世博英语Robin完成，深表感谢！