The news that seven major artworks on loan to the National Gallery might be
sold and may leave the country has a depressing air of inevitability. They
are magnificent pieces. Titian’s Portrait of a Young Man ( pictured,
far right) is a serene early portrait, less fleshy than others, sparse in
colour yet rich in detail. Although it has only been on loan to the National
Gallery for 15 years, it sat in Temple Newsam House near Leeds for more than
150 years. Likewise, the five paintings by Nicolas Poussin, the Sacraments,
have been on loan only since 2002, but were in the Duke of Rutland’s Belvoir
Castle for centuries. And few works could be more important to national
heritage than Rubens’s exuberant Apotheosis of King James I, which
belongs to Viscount Hampden and may also be up for sale.
This is hardly a new phenomenon. In 1906 the famous Venus by Diego
Velázquez, which had hung at Rokeby Hall since 1813, was “saved for the
nation”. And in 1909 Holbein’s Christina of Denmark, which had
been on loan to the National Gallery from the Duke of Norfolk, was purchased
for £72,000 thanks to a campaign to prevent Henry Clay Frick purchasing it.
Time was so short that it was only when an anonymous “lady at a German
watering place” contributed £40,000, a third of her personal fortune, that
the painting could be secured. To this day the name of the donor remains in
a sealed envelope.
It is not a new problem, but it is an accelerating one. Only two years ago the
National Gallery had to find £22 million for Raphael’s Madonna
of the Pinks. This year, with the help of the Art Fund, the Tate managed to
save Turner’s magnificent Blue Rigi when it was sold at Christie’s
for a record £5.8 million. Lord Halifax, the owner of the Titian, is said to
have been offered £55 million.
The pressures are immense. Art market inflation has been dramatic, placing
enormous temptations in the way of the old families with substantial
collections. Family trust arrangements can protect some works from the
ravages of inheritance tax, but when the head of the family dies – and there
are several octogenarians on the list below – the family will often have to
find several million pounds for the Exchequer. A painting is often far
easier to dispose of than a house.
There are worrying signs. The National Galleries of Scotland have held 26
major masterpieces on behalf of the Duke of Sutherland since 1945. These
include two Raphaels and a Rembrandt self-portrait. Yet only four years ago,
after his father’s death, the new duke sold another painting, Titian’s Venus
Anadyomene (Rising From the Sea), for more than £11 million. Although the
market value was probably in excess of £20 million, the figures stacked up
thanks to £7.6 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £2.5 million from the
Scottish Executive and £2.4 million allowed against inheritance tax.
Similarly, the Douglas-Pennant family collection at Penrhyn Castle in North
Wales has already sold Jan Steen’s Burgomaster of Delft to the
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for £8.1 million and paintings by Canaletto and
Bellotto were purchased for the National Trust in 2002. What remains is
Rembrandt’s splendid Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet, for which the
Dutch Government may make an offer soon. Other collections, including those
of the 29-year-old Earl of Pembroke or the rather older Earl of Radnor, may
seem secure for now, but remain at risk while in private hands.
The list of works at risk is lengthy – and rescuing them all could prove very
expensive. But the Treasury still has to find a better way of providing tax
incentives for philanthropic generosity, while also providing British
galleries with sufficient funds to match international competitors. And the
nation has to find a smarter way of ensuring that works we have grown used
to loving do not disappear into the bunkers of modern multimillionaires. Our
appetite for great works of art has not dimmed, but we may get weary of
constant appeals. Below is a list of “vulnerable” works.
1 Portrait of Catharina Hooghsaet by Rembrandt
Owned by the Douglas-Pennant family and on display at the National
Trust’s Penrhyn Castle. Two years ago the family sold The
Burgomaster of Delftand two Canalettos and a Bellotto were saved for Penrhyn
in lieu of inheritance tax. The striking late Rembrandt, valued in 1949 at
just £1,000, is now worth more than £40 million and, after a six-month
temporary export licence to the Netherlands, the Dutch Cabinet may decide to
make a substantial offer very soon.
Risk: very high
2 The Bridgewater Madonna by Raphael
Owned by the Duke of Sutherland; on loan with 25 other paintings, including
another Raphael, The Holy Family with a Palm Tree, and a Rembrandt
self-portrait, to the National Gallery of Scotland since 1945. After the
previous Duke’s death in 2000, Titian’s Venus Anadyomene was
sold to the Gallery for more than £11 million. The Gallery believes that the
paintings are “safe for the foreseeable future” as the 67-year-old Duke
doesn’t seem to want to sell any of the others, but such a large collection
will always be at risk.
Risk: medium
3 Portrait of Edward Grimston by Petrus Christus
One of only six known signed and dated works by the artist and the earliest
known portrait of a Briton. On loan by the 7th Earl of Verulam (family name
Grimston) to the National Gallery. He has no intention to change the
arrangement. Lord Verulam was unavailable for comment.
Risk: low
4 Winter Scene and The Bird Trap by the two Breughels
Owned by the Earl of Pembroke; on public view at Wilton House, Wiltshire,
along with seven paintings by Joshua Reynolds and portraits of Philip
Herbert, the 4th Earl of Pembroke, and his family by Van Dyck. The earl’s
impressive collection seems secure to judge from public statements he has
made.
Risk: medium
5 Portrait of an Old Woman by Rembrandt
Owned by the Duke of Buccleuch; on display at Drumlanrig Castle,
Dumfriesshire, along with Holbein’s Portrait of Sir Nicholas Carew.
Leonardo’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder was stolen from here in 2003.
The 83-year-old duke also owns Whitehall and the Privy Garden Looking
North by Canaletto. His heir, the Earl of Dalkeith, is the president of the
National Trust for Scotland. Risk: medium
6 Judas and the Thirty Pieces of Silver by Rembrandt
Owned by the 5th Marquess of Normanby, whose wife has been a trustee of the
National Gallery since 2004 and who sold the Warter Priory Estate in 1998
for £48 million. He lives at Mulgrave Castle in North Yorkshire. The
painting has been loaned annually to the National Gallery for two-month
periods since 2002.
Risk: low
7 The Cholmondeley Family by William Hogarth
Owned by the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, the Lord Great Chamberlain; on view
at the family seat, Houghton Hall, Norfolk. The family have recently handed
over ownership of several pieces to the Victoria and Albert Museum in lieu
of tax. Risk: “negligible”, except, as the Marquess points out, “through
theft, which unfortunately is not negotiable”
8 War and Peace by Van Dyck
Owned by the 9th Earl Spencer; on view at Althorp, Northamptonshire.
The Spencer collection seems assured considering the large numbers that
visit Athorp every year.
Risk: low
9 The Reverend Sir Henry Bate and Lady Bate-Dudley, both by Thomas
Gainsborough
On loan to Tate Britain since 1989 by the trustees of Lord Burton.
Both paintings were purchased for the Bass brewing family home in
Derbyshire, which has now been sold. Lord Burton is now 83 and lives in
Inverness. He recently had a discussion with his Trustees insisting that the
paintings should not be sold.
Risk: medium
10 Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows by John Constable
One of his last landscapes. On loan to the National Gallery from Lord Ashton
of Hyde since 1983. Now 80, Lord Ashton was unavailable for comment.
Risk: medium
11 Erasmus by Holbein
Owned by the 8th Earl of Radnor; has been on loan to the National Gallery. His
Longford Castle collection also includes works by Rubens, Breughel, Van
Dyck, Gainsborough and Frans Hals. The earl is now 80.
Risk: medium
— Chris Bryant is Labour MP for the Rhondda and sat on the Culture Select
Committee from 2001 to 2005
