Letter: Art commitment

Your article "Earl to sell another art masterpiece" (11 March), implies that, since the death of the 12th Earl of Wemyss, aged 96, in 2008, his family no longer maintains his lifelong interest in the preservation of this country's cultural, architectural and landscape heritage.

I can assure your readers that that implication is well wide of the mark, and that the family's commitment to these causes is undiminished.

In particular, Gosford House and its beautiful landscape gardens have benefited from a sustained and continuing programme of restoration, under my supervision, over the last 15 years, in order to fit them for the 21st century. The house was devastated by fire in 1940, and by dry rot in 1948, while under military occupation. The blaze lasted three hours. The reinstatement, costing millions is, 70 years later, still ongoing.

The landscape gardens and extensive "ponds", the masterwork of James Ramsay, have been laboriously restored over 15 years, dredging in the process 45,000 tons of silt. New enterprises, some golf-related, have also been developed nearby, in the hope that they will provide long-term finance for the house as well as local employment.

Bearing these costly commitments in mind, after the 12th earl's death it was imperative to raise capital by considering the sale of (and payment of death duty upon) some items from the collection. As part of this process, The Crucifixion of St Andrew by Carlo Maratta, acquired in 1805, was sent to London for conservation and evaluation, but it was concluded that, in view of its quality and long association with Gosford, it should not be offered for sale. Should that decision be reversed, the family would of course give preference to this picture's acquisition by a suitably eminent public institution in Scotland.

M ANDREWS

Factor, Wemyss & March Estates, Estate Office

Longniddry, East Lothian