National Galleries of Scotland to loan 60 artworks to China for major exhibition

The National Galleries of Scotland is to loan around 60 major artworks to China to go on display in an exhibition in Shanghai.

The board of the galleries signed off on an agreement made provisionally by NGS director Anne Lyden during a trade visit to the country early this year.

NGS signed the letter of intent with Arts Exhibitions China and the World Expo Museum in China in February to organise the exhibition. Under the terms of the letter, the NGS works would be part of an exhibition of European art in Shanghai in summer next year and would include Henry Raeburn's portrait of Neil Gow, A Group of Dancers by Edgar Degas, A Young Woman Nursing a Child by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and The Feast of Herod by Peter Paul Rubens and will span the period from 1350 to 2021.

The Feast of Herod by Peter Paul Rubens. | Getty Images

Ms Lyden was part of a delegation of arts bodies, which also included the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, who visited China with then-prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Ms Lyden, director-general of NGS, said the exhibition “highlights the power of art” to connect cultures and ideas.

She said: “We’re delighted to partner with Art Exhibitions China and the World Expo Museum to bring this landmark exhibition to Shanghai in 2027. It’s a fantastic opportunity to share Scotland’s world-class art collection with new audiences and showcase some of the nation’s greatest works on an international stage.

“Building on our strong track record of international touring, this collaboration highlights the power of art to connect people, cultures and ideas, and we look forward to strengthening those connections through this exciting partnership."

Ms Lyden travelled to Beijing at the end of January with Sir Keir in a diplomatic mission to engage with the Chinese government. The Scottish arts organisations were among 60 business, cultural and sporting groups on the three-day trip, where the UK Government leader said he wanted to forge stability and clarity in the government’s approach to the country. The trip was the first visit by a UK prime minister to China, the world’s second largest economy, since Theresa May in 2018.

NGS director Anne Lyden was among a delegation which visited China in January.

"We look forward to offering Chinese audiences deeper insights into the sweeping historical transformations in European art and society," said Liu Wentao, director of the World Expo Museum at the time.

Tan Ping, director of Art Exhibitions China, said the cooperation represents a further step in promoting mutual learning among civilizations and enhancing people-to-people exchanges.

Last month the Scottish Government’s tertiary education minister Alyn Smith wrote to all Scottish further education institutions to tell them they must be alert to dangers from foreign governments - after MI5 told universities they may have unintentionally assisted China's espionage.

The agreement with NGS comes as the UK Government’s business committee warned that Westminster’s decision-making had been characterised by "inconsistency" and was increasing national security risks. A report by the committee said ministers should block the transfer of sensitive data to China, give businesses clear rules for doing trade with the country and ban imports made using forced labour.

Earlier this year, Downing Street gave the go-ahead to plans to build a new Chinese embassy in London, removing a major diplomatic hurdle in relations between the two countries.

However, former prime minister Gordon Brown said recently that he believed there should be a new global partnership without China and America.

Speaking to The Rest is Politics podcast, he said: “We have got to get, in my view, a coalition of countries that are neither China nor, unfortunately, at the moment America... that set down principles of cooperation.”