Recession hits chances of saving second Titian

Published on Sunday 15 November 2009 21:48

THE campaign to secure a £50 million Titian painting for the nation suffered a major blow yesterday as politicians warned public funding for expensive artworks is running dry.

With Conservative hopes running high that the party will take power at Westminster next year, the party's shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt MP, said it would be "incredibly difficult" to make Diana and Callisto's purchase a priority.

"Funding is going to be very tight across the whole public sector," he said.

Meanwhile, Scottish culture minister Michael Russell still said the Scottish Government will not pay for the work.

Diana and Callisto is the sister painting of Diana and Actaeon, which The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the National Gallery in London bought earlier this year.

Backed by major contributions in public cash, they paid the Duke of Sutherland 50m.

They have until 2012 to raise the same sum to buy the second work, before the duke puts it on the open market.

The two masterpieces have been a pair since they were painted by Titian for King Phillip II of Spain nearly 500 years ago.

A spokesman for the UK Department of Culture Media and Sport also warned at there should be "no assumptions" it would provide any cash.

Mr Russell has said repeatedly that although the Scottish Government put 12.5m towards Diana and Actaeon, it won't be a donor this time. He said: "We will not be participating in purchasing the second piece. We just don't have the resources."

The two Titians had hung in the NGS since 1945. The purchase of the first secured the continued loan of other classic paintings in the Sutherland family's collection.

Funding for Diana and Actaeon included 12.5m from the National Gallery, 4.6m from the NGS, and 10m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the last resort to save major art or literary works.

The rest came from donations from private individuals and trusts, as well as 1m from the Art Fund charity.

The campaign to buy Diana and Callisto has not been officially launched yet but the NGS said yesterday: "We are obviously acutely aware of all the pressures on public and private funding but we consider that it is imperative that we make every effort to secure this work."

Titian expert Peter Humfrey, professor of art history at the University of St Andrews, said:

"We all thought at the time of the campaign for the Diana and Actaeon, that Diana and Callisto would be extra difficult for a number of reasons.

"One was that a huge sum has already just been paid out, and it's an awful lot more to ask various donors including the public. The big argument in favour of promoting it now is that they really must be together, they always have been, and it would be a tragedy if they were split."