Cash scramble for painting
2008-08-29 12:10
London - Two British galleries are scrambling to find £50m in four months to keep a painting by Titian, the loss of which would be like the Louvre selling the Mona Lisa, an art chief said on Thursday.
Diana And Actaeon by the Italian Renaissance master is currently on show at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh and is owned by the Duke of Sutherland, one of Scotland's wealthiest aristocrats.
But the duke wants to sell the painting and has offered it to the National Galleries of Scotland, which runs the Edinburgh venue, and London's National Gallery for a bargain £50m ($92m).
Experts say the painting would fetch at least £100m on the open market.
John Leighton, director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, told BBC radio it would be "an incalculable loss" if the painting were snapped up by a private buyer.
"In our terms, it would be like the Mona Lisa being taken out of the Louvre (in Paris) or the Uffizi Gallery in Florence losing its Botticellis," he said.
End of year deadline
The duke has set a deadline of the end of the year for the money to be raised.
If they can get the cash together, the galleries would then have the option to buy a second Titian from him - Diana And Callisto - in four years' time for a similar sum.
The two paintings were both created by Venetian master Titian for Spanish king Philip II in the 16th century.
They are widely recognised as some of his finest works - British artist Lucian Freud has described the pair as "simply the most beautiful pictures in the world".
Assuming both paintings are bought, the 25 other paintings in the duke's Bridgewater Collection - including eight Poussins, three Raphaels, two more Titians and a Rembrandt - would stay on loan at the National Gallery of Scotland.
The galleries' first port of call for the money is likely to be funding from Britain's National Lottery, as well as private charities, donors and endowment funds and their own coffers.
Emergency funding
But if they cannot raise enough, it is likely that the galleries would approach the government for emergency funding.
A spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport told AFP that, although no approach had yet been made, it was "very likely" there would be a shortfall and that discussions on funding would take place in the coming weeks.
"We will be having discussions with the Treasury to see if there is any scope for extra funds," he said.
"It's completely wrong for anyone writing about this to assume that there is some sort of pot of gold that can be drawn on.
"A case would have to be made and it would be a hard case to make ... in the current economic climate, but also because the cultural sector has done pretty well in recent years."