The exhibition of 83 paintings would take place about June 1 and continue through Sept. 30 and would not, according to the new petition, delay completion of renovations at the foundation in Merion or its reopening in October. Judge Ott has set a hearing date of May 10.
Last week, foundation president Richard H. Glanton said he'd decided to withdraw the earlier petition because there wasn't enough time to make all the necessary arrangements. He left open the chance that he would reconsider, however.
Yesterday, he said that "the venue agreed to push back the time of the exhibition, provided we could get the approval from the court in time to do the logistical work necessary to advertise the exhibition and to properly provide for its transfer."
He estimated that the seventh venue could raise as much as $3 million beyond the more than $14 million that the tour has already raised.
The tour was originally permitted as a "one-time exception" to the will of Dr. Albert C. Barnes, the foundation's founder, who had provided that none of the works he had collected should ever leave the foundation. The late Judge Louis Stefan originally limited the tour to four venues, later extended to six.
The exhibition, "From Cezanne to Matisse: Great French Paintings From the Barnes Foundation," is now at what was expected to be its last venue, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and will close on April 23.
The tour has aroused opposition since its conception, and the opposition continues. Nick Tinari, of the Students for the Barnes, said yesterday that ''there are no new circumstances, in terms of the need for cash," to justify a seventh venue, "and that's the only viable reason we've seen the judge use" to allow the tour.
Speaking for the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, deputy state attorney general Lawrence Barth said yesterday that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania probably would not oppose the trip to Munich.
"We will reserve our judgment until we can hear the facts," he said, but added: "We haven't objected to any of the venues in the past and we more than likely wouldn't object if the safety of the paintings can be guaranteed."
