Titian painting may be lost as deadline looms

SCOTLAND’S chances of keeping one of the “most beautiful paintings in the world” have suffered another blow with a warning from the owner that he still intends to sell the artwork unless £50 million is raised before the end of the year to save it for the nation.

Scotland on Sunday disclosed last year that the Scottish Government had no plans to contribute to a fighting fund to secure the future of Titian’s Diana And Callisto which currently hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland.

It’s sister painting, Diana And Actaeon, was saved in 2009 by an unprecedented fundraising effort that involved public agencies and private donors from both sides of the border after the Duke of Sutherland said he would sell the pair on the open market unless the cash was found.

The 71-year-old Duke, ranked the eighth richest individual in Scotland in last year’s Rich List, is now making it clear he intends to enforce his deadline of the end of 2012 for a similar amount to be raised to buy the second artwork. The painting is expected to fetch around £150m at auction.

A spokesperson for the Duke told Scotland on Sunday: “He does still intend to stick to the 31 December, 2012 deadline. There are no plans in place, so far ahead, in the event that the option is not exercised.”

The Titian has been hanging in the National Galleries in Edinburgh since 1945. However, the Galleries said they have no plans at present to mount the kind of public appeal that secured Diana and Actaeon. The Scottish Government chipped in with £12.5m as part of a deal that will see it displayed in Edinburgh and London on a shared basis.

A spokeswoman for the Galleries said it remained committed to holding on to the painting if possible. “The National Galleries of Scotland and National Gallery London have begun to explore ways to raise funds to acquire Diana and Callisto by the agreed deadline and we are in discussion with grant-making trusts and individual supporters. We are intensely aware of the challenges and difficulties of raising funds and the particular economic context in Scotland at the moment and we have no plans to make a direct appeal to the public at this stage.

“Under the generous agreement reached in 2009, the NGL and NGS were able to purchase jointly Titian’s Diana and Actaeon and secure the future of the Bridgewater loan to NGS for another 21 years,” it said. “The vendor also gave us until December 2012 to exercise the option to purchase Diana and Callisto. It is up to the vendor to decide what happens next if the money is not raised in this timescale.”

The campaign to save the first Titian divided opinion between supporters who wanted to keep the paintings and critics who insisted it was a mis-use of public funds during a recession. Similar battle lines are expected over the future of the second painting.

Diana And Callisto was described as one of the “most beautiful paintings in the world” by the late Lucien Freud. The arts impresario and founder of the Edinburgh Festival Richard Demarco said it was vital Diana And Callisto was secured for the nation.

“There shouldn’t be an argument about it,” he said. “If you think about future generations waking up to find that this painting was once in Scotland but is no longer here, because it has gone to the highest bidder, it’s tragic. If it’s not secured it will go on the market and it will be lost.”

Author Alexander McCall Smith said the paintings had become a matter of national pride. “Usually, big, expensive paintings like that are acquired by big countries. Here’s Scotland with this wonderful, wonderful painting,” he said.

However, MP Ian Davidson said it was right that no public money should be used to purchase the masterpiece.

“It would be absurd if at a time of economic difficulty, when many Scots are experiencing poverty and unemployment, if any public money was used to subsidise the lifestyle of the Duke of Sutherland by buying an ultra expensive painting from him. If the fundraisers can find some rich person with more money than sense then so be it.”

The Duke, Francis Egerton, has an estimated wealth of £580m. He said he wanted to sell the paintings to secure the future of his family, which also owns the bigger Bridgewater Collection of Old Masters, which includes works by Raphael, Poussin and Rembrandt. The landowner and landlord has estates in Mertoun, in the Borders, and Stetchworth, near Newmarket.

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