"Britain's lottery fund has awarded $18.4 million to the National Gallery in London to assist its struggle to keep a Raphael painting sought by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Reuters reported yesterday. The painting, regarded by the gallery as the most significant privately owned old master in Britain, is "Madonna of the Pinks," depicting the Virgin Mary with a sprig of pink flowers. Last year, the Getty offered to buy the painting, on loan since 1992 to the National Gallery from its owner, the Duke of Northumberland. Newspapers said the Getty offered $56 million. The British government temporarily banned export of the painting, giving the National Gallery a chance to match the Getty offer. A spokeswoman said the gallery was confident that the lottery award could be supplemented by public donations sufficient to enable the seller to realize an amount equal to that offered by the Getty. As a public institution, the gallery would be exempt from taxes on the transaction." (from: NYT)
Today's Guardian gives a nice 'picture' of all this:
Quote:
The duke, the Raphael and £11m of lottery money
A beatific smile, a carefree air. And that's just the duke. He'll get £11m of lottery cash and a lot more for this Raphael. Some experts are bemused
Fiachra Gibbons and Maev Kennedy
Thursday July 24, 2003
The Guardian
Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks
The Duke of Northumberland, one of the richest landowners in Britain, a man not often seen queuing with his lucky numbers on a Saturday night, yesterday hit the national lottery jackpot.
Its heritage fund has agreed to give the National Gallery £11.5m to try to stop him handing over the most expensive few square inches of oil paint in the world - Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks - to the Getty Museum in California for £35m.
While the gallery celebrated last night, the arguments about whether the painting, barely nine inches square, was worth saving for the nation raged on.
complete article
The Independent headlines
(link) Small object of beauty at the centre of an ugly row over tax and nationality
However, other grants were also announced on Wednesday, including £14.9m for the Natural History Museum's pressed plant and insect collection, £10.35m for Wentworth Castle near Barnsley and a £9.47m grant to upgrade part of the old Covent Garden flower market, to benefit London's Transport Museum.
from:
The BBC
Natural History Museum
£14.9m (above)
St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
£13.37m
Wentworth Castle, Barnsley
£10.35m
London's Transport Museum
£9.47m
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
£7.14m
Kibble Palace, Glasgow
£3.49m
Severn Valley Railway
£3.3m
Brading Roman Villa,
Isle of Wight £2.13m
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