Macclesfield Psalter row

Accusations are flying in the UK over the Heritage Lottery Commission's refusal to back the Fitzwilliam's bid to buy the Macclesfield Psalter at auction, and its more recent refusal to pitch in towards matching the amount bid by the Getty Museum in order to keep the manuscript in the UK. No mention, however (as yet) of the Commission's sabotage-through-incompetence in publicly posting the Fitzwilliam's request prior to the auction, effectively announcing how much the museum was willing to bid.

As noted most concisely in the Telegraph:

The National Art Collections Fund, the country's foremost art charity, started the [current £1.6M] appeal with a pledge of £500,000 but attacked the Government and the Heritage Lottery Fund for refusing to help.

David Barrie, the director of the art fund, accused the Government of interfering in the award of lottery funds, claiming that too much was channelled to "socially inclusive" projects and too little to items of heritage.

The writeup in the Guardian is more extensive, but is rather off the mark in comparing the Psalter to the Madonna of the Pinks (the Raphael was always known; the Psalter, a completely new discovery), and further errs in repeating the canards of a Warenne connection (no evidence whatsoever) and an origin in Gorleston (rather than Norwich, the likely center of East Anglian MS production) -- the last also repeated by the BBC.

ADDENDUM: The Art Newspaper now has a piece online on the Psalter, noting Sam Fogg's role as underbidder (though still no mention of Jörn Gunther bidding for the Getty).

Posted by David on September 10, 2004 1:48 PM