THE director of the National Gallery in London yesterday expressed "serious concerns" that funds needed to save two Titian masterpieces for the nation would not come through in time.
Nicholas Penny claimed the £50 million needed to secure the first of the two Renaissance oil paintings may not be confirmed by the 31 December deadline.
Titian's two 1559 works, Diana And Actaeon and Diana And Callisto, have hung in the Nationa
l Galleries of Scotland for 60 years along with 26 other paintings owned by the Duke of Sutherland.
The entire loan is under threat, it is claimed, unless the two galleries can raise the £100 million needed to buy one painting now and the other in four years.
Reports at the weekend suggested the sale was a done deal, with Scottish and UK government funding all but guaranteed.
But Mr Penny and the Scottish galleries chief, John Leighton, have denied reports of a "firm understanding" that the two works should remain together.
They rejected suggestions the cash had been confirmed by the Scottish Government and the Treasury.
The two paintings, worth an estimated £300 million on the market, have been offered to the National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland for a third of that if the deal goes through on time.
Mr Penny said: "We are talking about the greatest paintings in private ownership anywhere. I want them to stay in the UK and there have been absolutely no guarantees made about them."
The full article contains 254 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
