2nd Titian - where the money came from
March 1 2012
From The Guardian:
On Thursday it was announced that £45m had been raised and the Duke of Sutherland had reduced the asking price by £5m. A total of £25m came from the National Gallery reserves, mainly money that has been left in wills to the gallery. Then £3m came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £2m came from the Art Fund and £15m came from various donations and grants, some from individual donors and some from trusts including the Monument Trust and the Rothschild Foundation.
This is some effort; congratulations to all involved at both galleries. It's great to see that the Duke reduced the price in the end, not least because the total asking price for both pictures, £100m, was some way below their true market value.
I'm staggered that the Heritage Lottery Fund, which is awash with more money than it has ever had, only coughed up a measly £3m. That's about the same as the HLF spent on accomodation, postage and office equipment last year. And about the same as they awarded to the 'People's Memorial & Heritage Learning Centre at Newbridge Memo Caerphilly' (which I don't doubt is a thoroughly deserving cause). But the Titian was a picture that the National Gallery described as its 'most important acquisition ever'. And what is supposed to be the UK's main funder for heritage saw fit to contribute just over 5% of the total. Why does the HLF take such a dim view of acquisitions?
