For the Old World, cultural pride is reinvigorated when historic paintings threaten to skip across a country’s borders. In a less restrictive marketplace such as the UK, prices for top-flight Old Masters are at a premium, and owners of works that have come to symbolize the country’s rich artistic heritage have considered cashing in. The government has regularly had to wring out the funds from its coffers to quell such temptation. In some cases, public pleas have been made- the UK Art Fund has been set up to save works, such as the recent case of Peter Paul Ruben’s drawing “Apotheosis of St. James I,” for which the Art Fund is seeking public donations in the range of 6 million to purchase the work.
The past two weeks have seen two new cases pop up:
The UK National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland are now scrambling to retain Titian’s “Diana and Acteon” and “Diana and Callisto,”a matching pair of works which highlight the legendary “Bridgewater Loan”-a selection of works originally purchased by the Duke of Bridgewater in the late 18th-early 19th centuries, which has been displayed at the National Galleries since of 1945. The Duke of Sutherland, present owner of the Titians, is offering to sell “Diana and Acteon” to Britain for £50 million. Despite its lofty sum, this offer is generally considered a bargain, as it is an estimated 1/3 of what it would fetch on the open market. If this deal goes through, the Duke would give the U.K. the rights to purchase “Diana and Callisto” within four years, for an additional £50 million.
Four months to save £300m masterpieces [
U.K. National Galleries Seek 50 Million Pounds for Titian Work
Race to save £300 million Titians for UK [ Martin Bailey, The Art Newspaper]
£100m appeal to keep Titian works [BBC]
Threat to Scotland’s greatest art treasures [Tim Cornwell, Scotsman.com]
Click MORE for further coverage of the Titian debate, as well as reading on a recent restitution conflict between Russia and Germany
A slew of support for buying the picture in the British media has arisen since this news broke:
In Praise of the Bridgewater Loan [Guardian UK]
Is it worth spending £50m on a Titian? [Michael Archer, Guardian UK]
Don’t let these dramatic Titians leave Britain [Anna Somers Cocks, Guardian UK]
The battle of the Titians [Jonathan Jones, Guardian UK]
Elizabeth Jones lists some of the recent cases of retaining Old Masters in England:
Who might buy the Titians? Meet the new collectors of the art world [Elizabeth Jones, Guardian UK]
In other news, a rather humorous, yet serious dispute has arisen between Germany and Russia over stolen art from WWII. Germany is attempting to reclaim art that was taken from them by the Russians during the end of World War II. Russia has previously evaded such requests, as they considered the confiscated art to be reparations for the massive amount of precious art and collectibles in Russia that were destroyed or looted by the Nazis.
OMNP could not help but smile at Germany’s ostensibility, which come off as sounding passive-aggressive. “Fifty Years of Loss and Return,” a recent exhibition housed at the Sansoucci Palace outside of Berlin, celebrates the diplomacy between Russia and Germany after WWII. The show displays a gamut of Old Master works and other valuable pieces that were returned by Russia as an act of good faith to East Germany during the Cold War. The show lauds Russia for returning over 1.5 million of the items, yet its real premise seems to be an “encouragement” to return the rest. This may be a lengthy task, as a fair amount of war booty ended up in private hands.
Germany Thanks Russia for Returned Art, Asks for the Rest Back [Catherine Hickley, Bloomberg]
“50 Years of Loss and Return” exhibition page [Sansoucci Palace official website]
[...] Click MORE for further reading on the ongoing Titian debate in the UK [...]
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