Tate saves Rubens sketch
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An important sketch by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens valued at over 11 million pounds ($28 million) will be on permanent public display in Britain after being bought by private, public and charity funds.
The Tate gallery, which spearheaded the campaign to keep the oil sketch off the open market, announced on Wednesday (local time) that the necessary funds had been raised just in time to beat the September 30 deadline.
The vendor also agreed to drop the asking price by 300,000 pounds to help the deal go through, the gallery said.
The sketch, dated between 1628 and 1630, was an early planning tool for nine large panels by Rubens that adorn the ceiling of the Banqueting House in central London.
The panels depict King James I variously sitting in judgment and ascending into heaven.
They were painted in Rubens's Antwerp studios, so the artist never saw them in their final setting.
They were commissioned by King Charles I to celebrate his father, James I.
In 1649, some 15 years after their completion, Charles I walked through the Banqueting House and underneath the paintings on his way to his execution on a scaffold erected just outside.
Taking into consideration tax concessions, Tate and its partners had to raise six million pounds to save the work, entitled The Apotheosis Of James I: Multiple Sketch For The Banqueting House Ceiling. That was then reduced to 5.7 million pounds.
"I am simply thrilled that the Rubens sketch has been saved for the nation and that it will now hang on permanent display at Tate Britain," said Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain.
"This is the first Rubens work to enter Tate's collection and is a unique treasure in the history of British art ... and by acquiring this painting we can begin to represent the magnitude of Rubens's importance in British culture."
The money was raised by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Britain's fund of last resort for important national treasures, the Art Fund and the Tate members group.
The work has been in a private collection in England for more than 200 years.
- Reuters
