Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- France has no plans to ``clone'' the Louvre Museum and will only lend artwork on a temporary, rotating basis to the Louvre's future Abu Dhabi offshoot, the directors of two museums involved in the discussions said.

Stephane Martin, head of the Quai Branly Museum devoted to primitive art, and Anne Baldassari, chief of the Picasso Museum, were responding to accusations that French museums were selling out. Talks on the opening of a Louvre branch in the Gulf emirate and press reports of a potential payment to France of more than 500 million euros ($650 million) have sparked an irate editorial by well-known former museum managers, followed by almost 1,700 signatures to a petition on La Tribune de l'Art Web site.

The future Abu Dhabi gallery would host temporary exhibitions of works from several French museums until it formed its own permanent collection, Martin and Baldassari said in interviews. The Orsay Museum, Pompidou Center and Versailles Museum also have been part of the discussions, the Paris museum chiefs said.

``We're not talking about cloning the Louvre the way one might clone Disneylands all over the world,'' said Martin in a telephone conversation. ``The aim is to build a new institution with massive backing from the Louvre.''

A French Culture Ministry spokesman said the ministry would make no comment until the negotiations were complete.

The controversy erupted last month when Francoise Cachin, former head of France's museums; Jean Clair, former chief of the Picasso Museum; and Roland Recht, a professor at the College de France, published an angry column in Le Monde.

`Selling One's Soul'

``It's our political leaders who went over to present this royal and diplomatic gift,'' they said, referring to the Abu Dhabi project. ``Isn't that selling one's soul?''

Louvre Director Henri Loyrette, in an interview with Le Monde newspaper published Jan. 8, said the name ``Louvre'' would be lent for ``the time it takes for the Abu Dhabi museum to gather its own collections.'' The Louvre has a ``social and diplomatic'' as well as an artistic mission, he said, recalling that his museum displays about 35,000 out of a total of 380,000 works in its collection, and lends about 1,500 every year.

In July, Abu Dhabi, the richest of seven sheikdoms in the United Arab Emirates, signed an agreement with the Guggenheim Foundation to build the Middle East's first Guggenheim Museum, designed by architect Frank Gehry. The museum will be located on Saadiyat Island, a new development off the coast of Abu Dhabi aimed at attracting tourism and property investment and helping the emirate be less reliant on oil money.

Island Louvre

Abu Dhabi also has asked the French government to build a Louvre Museum on the island, Martin and Baldassari said. For the past year or so, negotiations have included the Culture Ministry and a committee of museum directors.

The plan would be to loan several hundred works a year from an array of sources including the Louvre and the Picasso Museum for between two months and two years, said the Picasso Museum's Baldassari. ``You have to compare that to the 12,000 loans made every year by the French national collections and to the 1,000 to 2,000 loans made by the Picasso Museum alone,'' she said. ``There's no peril here.''

Were there important financial considerations? ``Let's face it, we're in a difficult situation when it comes to culture funding,'' Baldassari said. She added that money generated from the Abu Dhabi operation would help museums ``maintain buildings, manage collections, plan restorations and buy works.''

The Louvre drew criticism last year when it launched a three- year program of loans to Atlanta's High Museum of Art, raising 5.4 million euros to renovate its 18th-century-furniture rooms. As part of a series of temporary shows, it will lend 15 paintings including Raphael's ``Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione'' (for three months) and Bartolome Esteban Murillo's ``The Young Beggar'' (for 11 months).

Angry Petitioners

At the time, Didier Rykner, who runs the Web site http://www.latribunedelart.com, denounced Louvre-Atlanta as aimed at making money. Now, his Web site is overflowing with petitioners -- 1,677 as of yesterday -- against the Abu Dhabi project.

To Rykner, that plan is an example of politics by other means. ``The Louvre and France's other museums are being treated as reserves that can be dipped into for non-scientific aims pursued by politicians,'' he said. ``The Louvre's visitors can't be deprived of what are often major works for long periods of time. Works can be loaned, but for a normal duration of three to six months, and for a scientific purpose.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Farah Nayeri in London at at farahn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 10, 2007 08:45 EST