Taken from BBC site at 8:09am on Thursday 28th August 2008:


"Two galleries are appealing for £50m to buy a painting by Italian Renaissance artist Titian.

The Duke of Sutherland is offering two works to the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery in London for £50m each.

If the galleries raise the funds to buy Diana and Actaeon, then the second painting - Diana and Callisto - will be offered for sale in four years.

The figure represents one third of their estimated open market value.

The paintings were created as part of a cycle of works for King Philip II of Spain from 1556 to 1559.

They form part of the historic Bridgewater collection owned by the duke and on display at the National Gallery of Scotland.

The collection also includes three paintings by Raphael, a Rembrandt, a Van Dyck, a Tintoretto and two more Titians.

'Most important'

The 7th Duke of Sutherland has decided to sell some of the collection to raise £100m.

His offer comes with the added incentive that, should the two galleries manage to raise the necessary funds, the entire collection will remain on long-term loan to the Scottish gallery.

"The Bridgewater Loan ... is the most important Old Master paintings loan to any public museum in the world," said the gallery's director, John Leighton.

"The present initiative is intended to secure the long-term future of the loan for the public benefit.

"We are delighted to be working in close collaboration with the duke and our colleagues in London in order to achieve this."

Under the deal, the galleries will be offered each painting in turn. They have until the end of this year to commit to buying the first.

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) is acknowledged as one of the greatest colourists of all time, who pioneered the use of oil paints, and paved the way for generations of artists to come.



It is a momentous day, not boring at all!

I wonder what Poolie of Kent has to say on this matter

He thinks it's ....simply wonderful and we all be getting our hands in our pocket to save them for the country, followed by a street party and a rousing chorus of Land of Hope and Glory..a collection will follow.....

Im really glad you got my sarcasm and did not think I was genuinly impressed by the story

Take a digital picture of them put them in the same place. £100 million buys 5 chinooks for the forces. Pays for cancer patients to get treatment. I know which I would want money spent on.

There is such a thing as Lottery funding you know.

And yes, they should be saved, just like the dilapidated music hall that my cousin played in and was brilliant in should be saved.

I disagree on the rousing chorus of Land of Hope and Glory though...surely at these most quinessentially culturally important situations, the National Anthem of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - God Save The Queen - should be played.

All together now !!!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zbJoyohvf4E&feature=related

Priorities are not a black and white thing. Just because you do X it doesn't necessarily mean you can't do Y. If you want to spend 100m extra on cancer treatment there are plenty of places you can get it from.

Mind, if you're happy to live in a sterile country that avoids art and culture and where every penny spent is devoted to the practical aspects of life, I agree it would be better to avoid these paintings.

Art and 'culture' good...price of art and culture a scandal. not frogetting the only people who make money from art are the ones who deal in it, not those who create it...modern day. talentless. self promoting gobshite 'artists' apart , that is.