Lottery Fund chips in for Raphael

The latest in the ongoing story of Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks, whose sale by the Duke of Northumberland to the Getty Museum was held up to give London's National Gallery the chance to match the price:

Now the Heritage Lottery Fund has decided to give the gallery £11.5m to help it try to keep the painting in the UK.

The gallery now needs to raise £9.5m itself to present a "matching bid" of £21m to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, whose department will have the final say on the whether the painting leaves the UK.

From the BBC, which also reports:

Other grants were also announced on Wednesday, including £14.9m for the Natural History Museum's pressed plant and insect collection, £10.35m for Wentworth Castle near Barnsley and a £9.47m grant to upgrade part of the old Covent Garden flower market, to benefit London's Transport Museum.

UPDATE: The duke is not happy with the National Gallery's offer, which is based in part on a disputed tax liability should the painting be sold abroad.

Posted by David on July 24, 2003 11:00 AM