National Gallery of Scotland to lose Turner's 'Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino' masterpiece

ONE YEAR after the National Galleries of Scotland helped raise £50 million to buy the Duke of Sutherland's Titian painting and keep the loan of his stunning collection, a second Scottish peer is selling a masterpiece that has hung in the galleries for decades.

JMW Turner's Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino (above) has been on loan to the National Galleries of Scotland for 30 years, but is being sold by the Earl of Rosebery's family at Sotheby's in London for an expected 12-18m.

The painting, bought by the 5th Earl of Rosebery in 1878, is one of two major Turners belonging to his descendants that hang in the NGS. It is thought likely to go to an American buyer.

The news of the sale raised concern yesterday that record auction prices for top-of-the-line masterpieces, at a time when other assets look shaky, will see other works lost to Scotland and Britain as titled owners cash in.

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The NGS jointly raised 50m to buy Titian's Diana and Actaeon and is already committed to raising another 50m for a second Sutherland Titian, Diana and Callisto.

There was no prospect yesterday of the NGS trying to save the Turner, staff said. "We are not in a position to acquire it. We have a strong collection of 19th-century British art," said a spokeswoman. "We are obviously sorry to see it go, but we have been delighted to show it over the last 30 years."

In London, Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, which has a large Turner collection, said it was "a hugely important painting. It's very sad that it is going to be sold".

The 7th Earl's son and heir, Lord Dalmeny, has worked at Sotheby's for two decades. The painting is being sold to secure the future of the Dalmeny estate, it was said.

"Personally, I would go for a Turner over a Titian," said Sotheby's British paintings expert, David Moore-Gwyn. But his works are less rare. The NGS has an important collection of Turner watercolours that it shows annually, and the Tate has large number of works.

Staff only recently learned of the sale plans.

The Scotsman's arts correspondent, Duncan MacMillan, said of the sale: "It's unfortunate timing, given that it is clear that this is a picture that ought to stay in the national gallery, but all the resources are going to Diana and Callisto."

The painting was a star attraction in the National Galleries "Turner and Italy" exhibition last year.

The art expert and former keeper of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Duncan Thomson, said the loss of the painting "was not a major disaster" because of the watercolour collection.

But he added: "The owner in a sense is taking advantage of the fact that the picture has been boosted in value by being in the national collection."