Titian treasures: Prized paintings vital to city's cultural status

Published on Saturday 30 August 2008 11:55

THE chances are that the vast majority of Edinburgh people have not clapped eyes on the prized Titians hanging in the National Gallery for years, if at all, and only a small minority will be at all concerned that the two masterpieces will be auctioned off to a private bidder if £100 million is not found to keep them in Scotland's premier public collection.

The paintings are being offered to the nation, at what is described as a knock-down price, by the Duke of Sutherland, whose family have loaned them to the National Galleries for 60 years. The Duke says he needs the cash in order to address what he describes as an "inbalance" in his finances, and if the sale is agreed then his immaculate Bridgewater collection of old masters which is on display on The Mound can stay for another 21 years.

The whole proposal will leave a sour taste in many mouths, coming as it does from a man who is one of the 400 richest people in the UK, with an estimated wealth of around 230 million. To say that a gun is being held against the Nation's head would be putting it too strongly – the pictures are his private property after all – but there will be an understandable unease that the jewels will be ripped from the National Galleries' crown if the cash is not forthcoming.

The loss of the Titians and the Bridgewater collection might not mean much to those who never set foot in an art gallery from one year to the next, and that probably means most Edinburgh people, but the truth is that their presence here is one of the things that keeps Edinburgh punching well above its weight.

The city may well have a castle and splendid Georgian architecture, but it must continue to offer much more to retain its place as one of the best destinations and foremost cultural centres. The festivals are already under considerable pressure, as has been well documented this week, and the loss of such an important collection would threaten to relegate Edinburgh to the B list of the art world.

It could be argued that the Galleries have not made as much out of them as, say, The Louvre has out of the Mona Lisa, but their importance is, as director John Leighton says, just as great.

The arguments which have plagued the tram project will no doubt be played out over these paintings – how many hospital beds would the money fund, etc, etc – but Scotland has precious little to offer that can genuinely be described as world class and everything should be done to hang on to what we have.