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Acceptance
in Lieu
Report 2008/09
Cover: Sir Anthony Van Dyck:
Portrait of Princess Mary.
Contents
1
2
3
Preface
2
Introduction
3
Benefits of the scheme
The Contemporary
Seaton Delaval
Valuations
Acknowledgments
3
4
4
4
4
AIL Cases 2008/09
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
Titian: The Triumph of Love
Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait of the Rev. Isaac Donnithorne
Trafalgar Sword and Three Groups of Medals
The Archive of Frank Martin
The Archive of Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth
David Allan: Lead Mining at Leadhills
The Bingley Cups
Works by David Bomberg and Joan Eardley
The Aberdare Archive
Frank Auerbach: Portrait of Julia
Jean-François Millet: The Angelus
John Runciman: Hagar and the Angel
Sir Anthony van Dyck: Portrait of Princess Mary
Sir Joshua Reynolds: Portrait of the Harcourt Family
Hand Club and Stone Adze Blades
Punch and Judy Archive
Thomas Gainsborough: Landscape
Sir John Lavery: Portrait of Violet Trefusis
Penrhyn Castle and Penrhyn Quarry Papers
Francesco Guardi: The Entrance to the Grand Canal
Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder: Flower Painting
Perino del Vaga: Study of Arms
Jacob Bogdani: Birds in a Landscape
Bonaventura Peeters: Shipping on the Schelde off Antwerp
Sir John Everett Millais: The Proscribed Royalist
Jean Tijou: Architectural Design
Roman Funerary Altar and Monument
Sir Howard Hodgkin: Portrait of Peter Cochrane
Two paintings by David Hockney
Joseph Highmore: Portrait of the Vigor Family
18th century Needlework
F C B Cadell: Still Life with Green Bottle
Walter Sickert: The Flower Girl
Shrubland Park Architectural Archive
The Archive of Sir Joseph Rotblat
Paris Bordone: Narcissus
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8
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14
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Appendices
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Cases completed in 2008/09
Members of the AIL Panel
Expert Advisers 2008/09
Allocation of items reported in 2007/08
The process of making an offer
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Acceptance in Lieu Report 2008/09 1
Preface
At a time of unprecedented economic turbulence, it is heartening to read in this report
that the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) Scheme is not only weathering the storm but, with an
impressive array of 36 cases completed in the year and an outstanding range of treasures,
is actually flourishing.
The legislative mechanism of AIL dates back a century to 1910, but it was not put
into effective operation until 1946 when this country was in a near bankrupt position.
The setting aside of the then vast sum of £50m from the sale of war surplus to allow
acceptance in lieu to become a viable means of acquisitions was a far-sighted investment
which has continued to yield substantial dividends for over sixty years.
In 2008/09 AIL has ensured that a wider range of wonderful paintings and archives has
entered the collection of the nation for the enjoyment and pleasure of all. Titian’s beautiful
Triumph of Love, temporarily on display at The National Gallery before it finds a permanent
home at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, is the most memorable of a number of Old
Master paintings. As I write, it is the week of the Chelsea Flower Show, and Ambrosius
Bosschaert’s exuberant still life of tulips, carnations and a host of other blooms seems to
be the perfect embodiment of this country’s passion for gardening. Works by Van Dyck,
Gainsborough, Reynolds and Millais add to the list of paintings of the finest quality that are
now part of the country’s heritage thanks to AIL.
This year also sees a welcome rise in the number of modern painters whose works are
coming through the scheme into public ownership. Three of Britain’s greatest living artists
have had their works accepted – Frank Auerbach, David Hockney and Howard Hodgkin
– painters of international importance who have made such a significant contribution to
the artistic and cultural standing of the UK.
In the Introduction to this report, the Chairman of the AIL Panel mentions the work that is
on-going to bring to a satisfactory conclusion the offer of Seaton Delaval and much of its
historic contents. Such an important potential acquisition of Vanbrugh’s imposing mansion
on the Northumberland coast would be a major statement of the continuing importance
of the AIL scheme in the 21st century. For the North-East it would open up a major tourist
attraction and ensure the long-term future of a building which is an important part of
our heritage.
None of this would be possible without the commitment, energy and expertise of Jonathan
Scott and his Panel and Gerry McQuillan and his team. I offer them all my most grateful
thanks on behalf of the MLA Board and Chief Executive Roy Clare.
Finally, as many of the readers of this report will already know, the administration of the
AIL Scheme is transferring from London during 2009/10. The intention is to integrate the
posts with other functions that are already located in our new head office in Birmingham.
This step is part of the MLA’s ongoing work to streamline its operations; changes in the
past year are already leading to savings in running costs of 30 per cent, some £4m per
year. We aim to continue to provide a high-quality service through the AIL Scheme, and
to maintain continuity during the forthcoming changes. Roy Clare and his staff will keep
you informed as we progress.
Sir Andrew Motion
Chair, MLA
2 Acceptance in Lieu Report 2008/09
Introduction
At a time of such economic gloom it is most encouraging to celebrate the acquisition
by the National Galleries in London and Edinburgh of Titian’s great painting Diana and
Actaeon. We are also pleased to announce the acquisition through the AIL scheme
of a lesser but extremely interesting work by the same artist, The Triumph of Love.
This was one of 36 cases finalised last year, resulting in a tax settlement of £10.8m
and the acquisition by the nation of archives and works of art with a total value of £19.8m.
The comparative figures for recent years are set out below.
Year to
31 March
Number of cases
Value of objects accepted
Tax settled
2001
23
£24.6m
£16.0m
2002
27
£35.1m
£26.6m
2003
37
£39.9m
£15.8m
2004
23
£21.7m
£15.0m
2005
28
£13.0m
£8.9m
2006
38
£25.2m
£13.2m
2007
32
£25.3m
£13.9m
2008
32
£15.2m
£10.3m
2009
36
£19.8m
£10.8m
The offers comprised works by Titian and Van Dyck, Guardi and Millet, Reynolds and
Gainsborough, as well as, for the first time, a number of works by living artists. There
were also Roman antiquities, fine silver cups and some remarkable needlework panels,
while archives ranged from the correspondence of an early 19th century prime minister
(including many letters from Nelson and the younger Pitt) to the papers of a Nobel
Prize winner.
These acquisitions were allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the
National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh and to museums, galleries and archives in
Cambridge, Charleston in Sussex, Cheltenham, Exeter, Ipswich, Northampton, Norwich
and Oxford. The majority of the objects has not yet been allocated finally because,
now that the cases have been completed, it is necessary to advertise their availability.
Following the publication of this report we shall be able to proceed with advertising
and allocation and the process will be completed in the near future.
Benefits of the Scheme
Last year’s report drew attention to some objects which had been accepted in lieu in
previous years and had featured in recent exhibitions. The Bingley Cups, accepted this
year, were magnificently displayed among the splendours of state dining in the Baroque
exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition ‘Van Dyck & England’
at Tate Britain included, among seven other works accepted under the Scheme, the
fascinating portraits of Sir Robert Shirley, envoy of Shah Abbas, and his wife by Van Dyck.
These paintings were part of the contents of Petworth House accepted in lieu in 1957
at a value of £50,000. The value at which indemnity would normally have been sought for
the purpose of the exhibition would have been several tens of millions of pounds. We must
stress that the nation was not getting a bargain in 1957 – the values were accepted both
by our expert advisers and by the offeror’s agents – but that, through the AIL Scheme,
the nation was able to acquire masterpieces that would now be unaffordable.
The Contemporary
In our last report we urged that the AIL Scheme should be extended to encourage
the acquisition of contemporary works of art and archives. Although we accept that the
introduction of any such changes to the tax regime may have to wait for better economic
times, we are pleased to report that in the current year paintings by Frank Auerbach,
David Hockney and Howard Hodgkin were offered in lieu and have been accepted.
This is a start and we look forward to receiving similar offers in the future.
Seaton Delaval
It has been announced in the press that Seaton Delaval, the great early 18th century
house designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for the Delaval family in Northumberland, has been
offered in lieu of tax together with a large part of the contents, the garden and some of
the surrounding estate. The offer of the contents is conditional upon their being retained
in the house. The National Trust, to which it is intended that the house and its contents
should be allocated, has launched a major fundraising campaign to provide an endowment
for the property, to pay for its restoration and to purchase some further adjacent land.
The Panel is currently assessing the contents and expects to receive a report on the
house and associated land later this year.
We do not normally refer to offers which have not been finalised but, in view of the press
coverage, we felt that it was appropriate to state the current position. We very much hope
that this great baroque masterpiece, one of the most dramatic houses in England, will in
due course be accepted in lieu. It would be the first case of an offer of a house and its
contents since 1984.
Valuations
Since last autumn the art markets have been affected by the fluctuations and uncertainties
that have hit the financial markets. This has made valuations particularly hard to establish.
Nevertheless, if an offer is made, we have to establish a fair market price at the time,
neither taking values that might have been sustainable at the height of the boom nor being
unreasonably pessimistic. We are more than ever reliant upon the advice and experience
of our expert advisers and, in most cases, we are consulting more than one adviser from
the art trade.
Acknowledgements
As always, we record our thanks to our advisers who give of their time with such generosity.
We should also like to thank James Methuen Campbell, a member of the Panel who
retired at the end of the year under report; we were privileged to benefit from his extensive
knowledge of paintings and furniture and his experience as the owner of a great country
house was invaluable to our discussions.
Jonathan Scott
Chairman of the AIL Panel
Cases
2008/09
Acceptance in Lieu
1. Titian: The Triumph of Love
The Triumph of Love, oil on canvas, laid down on panel, 88.3 cm
diameter, was painted by Titian (c. 1485-1576), one of the greatest
artists of the Renaissance.
The Triumph of Love is a most unusual work in the artist’s output. It can
be traced back to the collection of Gabriel Vendramin, Titian’s Venetian
patron, who is depicted in the National Gallery’s The Vendramin Family,
venerating a Relic of the True Cross, painted in the 1540s. The Triumph
of Love, which dates to the same period, was painted as a coperto to
cover a portrait of a lady in a black dress, recorded in the Venrdamin
collection in the 1560s, but now untraced. It was originally rectangular
but it was cut down and laid on panel in the 17th century.
Painting covers were a common element of collections in the
16th century but few have survived. Private collectors often protected
a treasured possession with a painted cover which sometimes made
an allegorical allusion to the painting beneath it. They used the cover
to create a sense of theatre as they revealed hidden treasures to be
shared and enjoyed with like-minded friends.
The painting depicts Cupid, holding his bow and arrow and riding
on a lion. The figures are set in a landscape setting showing a fantasy
lagoon. The recent cleaning and restoration by the National Gallery
have revealed the oculus, or circular window, on which the front paws
of the lion rest. This circle originally surrounded the whole image. As
the painting has never been relined elements of it, such as the figure
of Love, are in an exceptionally well-preserved state.
The Panel considered that the painting met the second and third
criteria and that it was acceptably valued. The painting is temporarily
on display in the National Gallery but has been permanently allocated
to the Ashmolean Museum where it will be seen when the refurbished
museum opens in November 2009. As the painting could have settled
more tax than was actually payable, the Ashmolean met the difference
of £430,000, to which £180,000 was contributed by The Art Fund.
Above: Titian: The Triumph of Love. (infrared
reflectogram, showing Titian’s underdrawing)
Photo © The National Gallery.
Opposite: Titian: The Triumph of Love.
(after cleaning) Photo © The National Gallery.
2. Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait
of the Rev. Isaac Donnithorne
Portrait of the Reverend Isaac Donnithorne (1709-1784) was painted by
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), oil on canvas, 206 by 177 cm. It
depicts the sitter in an unusual combination of the roles of businessman
and clergyman. Another slightly larger variant (233 by 152 cm) is in
Hereford Cathedral with which Isaac was connected. He had been
ordained as an Anglican priest in 1735, but in 1762 he inherited from
his brother Joseph the Donnithorne family interests in Cornwall, which
included tin-mining ventures.
Surrounded by his business ledgers, two of which are inscribed,
‘Toll Tin Accounts’ and ‘Polberra Accounts’, he wears what in the early
1770s was recognisably a clerical wig. The black stockings are also
particular to clergymen, but above this he wears a fashionable coat
with cape collar and cutaway fronts, tight sleeves and narrow cuffs.
The appearance of James Donnithorne’s name on the letter on
the table can be explained by the suggestion that the portrait was
commissioned with the purpose of being presented to the sitter’s
son James. Gainsborough is known to have included the name of the
recipient of the portrait in other paintings.
The Panel considered that the portrait met the second criterion and
after negotiation that it was valued acceptably. The portrait awaits
permanent allocation.
Below: Thomas Gainsborough: Portrait of the Rev. Isaac
Donnithorne (1709-1784).
3. Trafalgar Sword and
Three Groups of Medals
The offer comprised a £100 Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund sword and
scabbard made by the London sword cutler, Richard Teed, and
three groups of medals.
The Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund issued three levels of swords in the early
19th century to reward those who had performed acts of bravery at
sea. They increased in ornament according to their value from £30 to
£50 and £100. Recent research indicates that only 39 of the highest
value swords were issued; this example was awarded to George Hope,
Captain of HMS Defence, as the sword’s inscription records, “for his
meritorious services in contributing to the signal victory obtained over
the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape Trafalgar, on 21st
October 1805”. In addition Hope was awarded a Trafalgar gold medal.
He later became a Lord of the Admiralty and was MP for East
Grinstead. He died in 1818 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
His son, Admiral Sir James Hope (1808-1881) also had a distinguished
naval career and saw action in China during the Second Opium War.
His medals, which are part of the offer, include the Order of the Bath,
the China War Medal, the Légion d’Honneur and a Royal Naval College
prize medal. Sir James Hope’s sister married Sir Harry Verney of
Claydon and the medals of their son, Sir Edmund Hope Verney,
who fought in the Crimean War, are also part of the offer, as are those
of Sir Edmund’s son-in-law, Lt-Col William Henry Salmon, who served
in Egypt, in India and in South Africa during the Boer War.
Above: Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund ‘Trafalgar’ sword presented
to Captain George Hope. © The NTPL
Below: Medals awarded to Admiral Sir James Hope
(1808-1881). © The NTPL
The Panel considered that the sword and medals variously met the
first, third and fourth criteria, and, following negotiation, that they were
acceptably valued. The chattels have been allocated to the National
Trust for display at Claydon House, Buckinghamshire, the Verney
family home which has been in the Trust’s ownership since 1956.
4. The Archive of Frank Martin
The offer comprised the archive of Frank Martin (1914-2004). He was
an inspirational teacher who from 1952, when he was appointed head
of sculpture, until his retirement in 1979, made the St Martin’s School
of Art in London one of the most important centres for sculpture in the
post-war era.
After training at the Portsmouth Art School and Royal Academy
Schools he became a studio assistant to the sculptor William McMillan
and posed for the central figure of Triton in the fountain McMillan
created for Trafalgar Square. Following distinguished service in the
Royal Marines during World War II, when he was twice mentioned
in dispatches for bravery, he returned to sculpture in civilian life.
Although not a sculptor of the first rank, in teaching he found his
metier and transformed the sculpture department at St Martin’s into
a thriving centre for the development of new techniques and the use
of new materials. This had a profound effect not only on British
sculptors but worldwide, making St Martin’s an international centre
for avant-garde sculpture. He invited leading sculptors to teach in his
department including Anthony Caro, Elisabeth Frink and Eduardo
Paolozzi as well as inviting his own students to return after graduation
to pass on their insights to the next generation.
The archive provides a comprehensive record of everything that took
place or shaped the development of the sculpture department at
St Martin’s from 1952 onwards and illuminates a critical period in the
careers of many important British artists who passed through the
department during the 60s and 70s. The archive contains an extensive
photographic record and letters from artists, dealers, administrators
and critics including Clement Greenberg who wrote in 1964,
“No other art school I know achieves results of such immediate
importance either pedagogically or artistically. No other art school
manifests a spirit so invigorating and at the same time mature; no other
art school demands as much of its students.”
The Panel considered that the archive met the third criterion and that
it was acceptably valued. The archive has been temporarily allocated
to Tate pending a decision on permanent allocation.
Below: Students in Frank Martin’s Advanced
Sculpture Class of 1967-68, including Gilbert
& George, Richard Long, Hamish Fulton and
Tom Burrows.
5. Archive of Henry Addington,
Viscount Sidmouth
The offer comprised the archive of Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth
(1757-1844). Although he was Prime Minister for only three years from
1801 to 1804 both succeeding and being succeeded by William Pitt
the Younger, he had served as Speaker from 1789 to 1801 and was to
be Home Secretary from 1812 to 1821. He was thus at the centre of
British politics for nearly four decades at a time when Europe was being
re-shaped by the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon and the
political settlement arising from the Congress of Vienna. His reputation
is rather unfairly encapsulated in Canning’s couplet:
Pitt is to Addington
As London is to Paddington
Addington’s archive is remarkably complete and includes correspondence
from most of the great figures of the day. The single most important
group is a collection of over 50 letters from Horatio Nelson. Although
Nelson was a prolific letter writer, most of his correspondence relates
solely to naval matters. When writing to Addington, however, he ranged
over a wide spectrum of political matters as well as addressing details
of naval policy in the crucial early years of the 19th century. Although
it has been stated that Addington in retirement purged his papers to
efface those that would reflect badly on Pitt, there is little evidence
that this was carried out with any ruthlessness and over 90 letters
from Pitt remain.
Above: Letter from Nelson, signed ‘Nelson and Bronte’,
dated 31 May, 1801 to Prime Minister Henry Addington
advising of a recognisance trip to the French coast which
was planned for 1 June, 1801.
Other important elements of the archive include a map from the
early history of Australia by George William Evans which records
the first expedition of 1813 beyond the Great Dividing Range,
together with the original accompanying autograph letter dated
March 1814. Also included are the papers of Addington’s nephew,
Henry Unwin Addington (1790-1870), who was Minister to Washington
in the 1820s.
The Panel considered that the archive met the first and third criteria
and that it was acceptably valued. As the archive could have settled
more tax than was actually payable, the Devon Record Office, to which
the archive has been permanently allocated, met the difference. The
National Heritage Memorial Fund gave a generous grant of £1.6m
which not only covered the additional cost of the archive, but funded
an imaginative programme to provide access to and interpretation of
the contents.
6. David Allan: Lead Mining at Leadhills
The offer comprised four paintings, oil on canvas, each 38.3 by 58 cm,
by David Allan (1744-1796). The artist was born in Clackmannanshire
and apprenticed at 11 to a Glasgow printmaker. He studied at the
Foulis Drawing Academy attached to Glasgow University and later,
with support from Lord and Lady Cathcart, he went to Rome to
continue his studies and remained in Italy for 10 years. In Rome
he was part of the circle of Gavin Hamilton but also worked in Naples
for Sir William Hamilton, Lady Cathcart’s brother. On returning to
Britain in 1777 he tried to establish himself in London, but without
success, and returned to Scotland in 1779. On the introduction of
Lady Erskine he was invited to stay at Hopetoun House during the
winter of 1780, where the 3rd Earl of Hopetoun commissioned him
to depict the mining on his estate at Leadhills in south-west Scotland.
Lead had first been mined in the area in Roman times and in the 18th
century it was a thriving business which continued well into the 20th
century. The four paintings are a rare example of the depiction of an
industrial process in the early years of the Industrial Revolution. In
contrast to other paintings of men at work, Allan shows a modern
industrial process and not a nostalgic vision of rural life. The four
paintings follow the process of lead production from the breaking
by children of the lead ore (galena), to the washing of the ore, the
pouring of the molten lead into moulds and finally, to the lead ingots
being weighed and the clerks completing the appropriate ledgers.
The Panel considered that the paintings met the third criterion and,
following negotiation, that they were acceptably valued. The paintings
have been allocated to the National Galleries of Scotland in
accordance with the condition attached to the offer.
Below: David Allan: One of the four scenes
of Lead Mining at Leadhills, Breaking the ore.
7. The Bingley Cups
The offer comprised a pair of large Queen Anne silver-gilt cups,
covers and matching salvers (cups and covers: 35 cm wide, 38 cm
high, 20 cm deep; salvers: 40 cm diameter and 13 cm deep) carrying
the maker’s mark of Phillip Rollos. They are listed in the Jewel House
records as having been delivered in December 1713 and March 1714
for use by Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley who, having completed
a period as Chancellor of the Exchequer, was appointed Ambassador
Extraordinary to the Court of Spain in late 1713. The silver cost
£308, 5sh, 10d. They were designed as ambassadorial silver to
impress those who would have seen them set out as part of the
buffet at official functions thereby reflecting the importance of the
ambassador and the country that he represented.
Although little is known about the silversmith Philip Rollos, he must
have been part of the influx of Huguenot craftsmen who came to
England in the late 17th century. He rose to be Subordinate Goldsmith
to William III and to Queen Anne.
After the cups had been returned to the Jewel House in 1725, they
became part of the royal collection and were taken by George II to
Herrenhausen, the royal palace in Hanover, some time after his
succession in 1727. When Victoria became Queen of Great Britain in
1837, she was unable under Salic law to inherit the throne of Hanover.
This passed instead to the eldest surviving son of George III, Ernest
Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, and on his death in 1851 to his son,
George Frederick. After Hanover was annexed by Prussia in 1866, the
family lived in exile in Austria. In 1924 much of the Hanoverian plate
was sold privately in Vienna.
The Panel considered that the cups met the second and third criteria
and, following negotiation, that they were acceptably valued. They have
been allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum where they had
previously been on loan.
Below: One of the pair of Bingley Cups by Philip Rollos.
8. Works by David Bomberg
and Joan Eardley
David Bomberg was born in Birmingham to Polish immigrant parents
who soon moved to London. Bomberg attended evening classes given
by Walter Sickert at the Westminster Technical Institute. He studied
at the Slade from 1911 to 1913 where his fellow students included
Mark Gertler, Paul Nash, William Roberts and Edward Wadsworth
and he soon became a leading member of the British avant-garde.
Although he was not a formal part of the Vorticist movement, his
paintings showed his engagement with the dynamism of modern
urban life. By the 1920s his style turned to a more traditional response
to landscape and after visiting Palestine, he spent increasing periods
of the 1930s in southern Spain. His work was by now out of favour
and after 1945 he turned to teaching. His students during this period
included Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff. The painting Bideford,
Devon is a fine example of his intense semi-abstract response to
landscape. The two works on paper are both good examples of his
vigorous draughtsmanship.
Joan Eardley was born in Sussex, but her Scottish mother evacuated
the family to Glasgow in 1939 and she enrolled at the Glasgow School
of Art where she studied until 1945. Children Painting shows her
highly individual engagement with the street life of post-war Glasgow;
on the verso there is a depiction of the fireplace in her studio.
The offer comprised four items;
three works by David Bomberg (1890-1957)
and a double-sided painting by Joan Eardley
(1921-1963):
David Bomberg
a) B
ideford, Devon, signed lower left,
‘Bomberg, 46’, oil on canvas,
64.8 by 71.1 cm;
b) Rhonda, charcoal, 48.3 by 61.0 cm;
c) Figure composition, watercolour and pencil,
50.8 by 55.9 cm;
Joan Eardley
d) recto: Children Playing; verso: The Fireplace,
oil on canvas, 71.1 by 88.9 cm.
The Panel considered that the four works met the third criterion and
were acceptably valued. They await permanent allocation.
Above: Joan Eardley: The Fireplace.
Opposite: David Bomberg: Bideford, Devon.
9. The Aberdare Archive
The estate papers contain a set of eleven late 18th century maps
of the Bruce estates in the parish of Aberdare together with a large
group of deeds, rental documents, tenancy agreements, accountancy
records and estate letterbooks.
John Singleton Copley, Lord Lyndhurst (1772-1863) was born in
Boston, Massachusetts, the elder son of the painter of the same name
who brought his family to England in 1774. After a distinguished period
at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was called to the bar in 1804. For the
next twenty years he made his mark in the legal profession and drew
the attention of the Tory Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool. After entering
Parliament in 1818 he advanced rapidly and in 1827 he was appointed
Lord Chancellor, an office which he held in two later administrations.
He mixed politics with the enjoyment of society both in London and
in Paris and entertained artists, authors and scientists. The archive
contains both some of his political papers and his family
correspondence. His granddaughter married the 2nd Lord Aberdare.
Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Lord Aberdare (1815-1895) trained as a
lawyer, but was led into politics through his Welsh business concerns.
He became MP for Merthyr Tydfil in 1852 as a Liberal. His particular
interests lay in education and the mining industry; he served as
Home Secretary from 1868 to 1873, following which he became
Lord President of the Council and was created Baron Aberdare. He
was subsequently President of both the Royal Historical and Royal
Geographical Societies. The archive contains family legal papers and
Bruce family estate papers. There are also fine series of letters from
Gladstone and the artist Edward Lear.
The Panel considered that the archive met the third criterion and that
it was acceptably valued. The archive has been temporarily allocated
to the Glamorgan Record Office where it had been on deposit,
pending a decision on permanent allocation.
The Aberdare archive contains three
principal elements:
a) Aberdare estate papers comprising
documents of title for estates at Aberdare,
Llanwonno, Llanblethin and elsewhere
from 1615 to the 20th century and estate
management and account papers;
b) papers of John Singleton Copley,
Baron Lyndhurst (1772-1863); and
c) p
apers of Henry Austin Bruce,
Baron Aberdare (1815-1895).
10. Frank Auerbach: Portrait of Julia
Portrait of Julia, acrylic on board, 46 by 51.1 cm. was painted in 1992
by Frank Auerbach (b.1932). Auerbach was born in Berlin to JewishGerman parents who sent him to Britain in 1939 to escape Nazism.
He never saw them again. The painting on offer was part of the estate
of Mrs Gerda Boehm (1907-2006) of Hampstead, who was the artist’s
cousin and had looked after him on his arrival in England.
Precociously talented, Auerbach studied at St Martin’s School of Art
and the Royal College of Art, but it was his time with David Bomberg
at Borough Polytechnic that influenced him most. He had his first solo
exhibition at London’s Beaux Arts Gallery in 1956 and has, in the last
50 years, become one of the most celebrated of British post-War
artists. He lives in north London and has used the same studio for
half a century.
His portrait work has concentrated on three women: ‘E.O.W.’, Stella
Olive West, his close friend whom he met in the late 1940s; ‘J.Y.M.’
Juliet Yardley Mills, a professional model whom he met in 1957 and
‘Julia’, Julia Wolstenholme, a fellow student at the Royal College whom
he married in 1958. The portrait offered in lieu, Portrait of Julia, dates
from 1992. In returning again and again to paint the same sitter, often
over extended periods of time, Auerbach has achieved a high level
of freshness and emotional involvement. This belies the many hours
of sittings necessary before he is satisfied that he has reached a form
of completion.
In the major retrospective of Auerbach’s work held at the Royal
Academy in 2001 one room was devoted solely to portraits of Julia.
The painting offered in lieu was one of fourteen selected for exhibition
from the many that exist.
The Panel considered that the portrait met the second and third
criteria and that it was acceptably valued. The painting has been
temporarily allocated to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
pending a decision on permanent allocation.
Below: Frank Auerbach: Portrait of Julia, 1992.
(by kind permission of The Artist).
11. Jean-François Millet: The Angelus
The Angelus, pastel and crayon noir on paper, 34 by 43 cm, was
drawn by Jean-François Millet (1814-1875). It is a reduced replica of
the original painting (55 by 66 cm) which Millet produced in 1859.
The Angelus is one of the most famous images of mid-19th century
French art. When it changed hands in 1889 it was the most expensive
modern painting ever sold. It was acquired by the French state in 1910
and hangs today in the Musée d’Orsay.
Millet and Gustave Courbet were the principal exponents of the
movement in mid-19th century French art which rejected the historical
and anecdotal genre paintings of the Salon and sought to depict the
life of the French peasant and the often harsh and sad realities of rural
life. Millet wrote of the painting in 1865, “The Angelus is a painting that
I made remembering how when we used to work in the fields, at the
sound of the church bells my grandmother would always stop us in our
work to say the Angelus for the poor departed, very piously and with our
hats in our hands”.
In the 1860s when this image was created, Millet was concentrating
on the medium of pastels and producing work of the highest technical
ability and originality. This pastel is the only known version of the
composition produced by the artist in colour. It passed through
various French collections until it was acquired in the 1890s by James
Staats-Forbes who assembled an outstanding collection of works by
Millet. On his death it was bought by the Glasgow collector, John Reid,
and passed by descent. It has not been exhibited since it was sold at
the studio sale following the artist’s death.
The Panel considered that the pastel met the second and third
criteria and that it was in an exceptional state of preservation.
Following negotiation, the price was considered to be fair. It has been
temporarily allocated to the British Museum pending a decision on
Opposite: Jean-François Millet: The Angelus.
12. John Runciman: Hagar and the Angel
Hagar and the Angel, oil on panel, 17 by 28 cm, was painted by
John Runciman (1744-1769). He was the younger brother of the more
widely known Scottish painter Alexander Runciman.
In 1767 the two brothers received a commission from Sir James Clerk
to paint the saloon and staircase of his new house at Penicuik, near
Edinburgh. They were given an advance of £150 which was used
to help fund a trip to Italy. John travelled to London in October and
arrived in Rome by the end of the year, staying in the city for most of
1768. According to his brother, he was forced to leave Rome because
of the persecution of another Scottish painter, James Nevay. Before
he left, he destroyed much of his artistic output from his Roman period
and the only remaining item which can be clearly dated to this time
is a self-portrait (Scottish National Portrait Gallery) remarkable for its
early Romantic atmosphere. He died in Naples a few weeks after his
arrival while his brother, accompanied by James Barry, was travelling
south to join him.
The painting is one of a very small group of works, all on biblical
subjects, painted by the artist while in Edinburgh. It depicts the scene
from the Book of Genesis, in which Hagar and her son have been
cast out of Abraham’s house at the insistence of Sarah; without water
and fearful for her child, Hagar prays to God, who sends an angel
to point to a miraculously welling stream. Hagar, which is very well
preserved, is painted with considerable freedom. Only nine such works
seem to have survived, their originality making his early death all the
more regrettable.
The Panel considered the painting met the second and third criteria
and that it was in excellent condition. The price at which it was
offered, however, was considered to be an undervaluation, and
the Panel advised that an increased valuation of 25 per cent would
be appropriate. The painting awaits permanent allocation.
Below: John Runciman:
Hagar and the Angel.
13. Sir Anthony Van Dyck:
Portrait of Princess Mary
Portrait of Princess Mary (1631-1660), oil on canvas, 136 by 108.5 cm,
was painted by Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641). The artist, who
came to England at the invitation of Charles I, became the foremost
painter of the Stuart court.
The sitter was the eldest daughter of Charles I. At the age of nine,
in May 1641, she married William II, Prince of Orange. William wrote
to his parents in the days following the wedding ceremony, “I find her
more beautiful than the painting.” Van Dyck’s portrait of the future
bride had been sent to Holland as part of the pre-marital negotiations.
William returned to Holland at the end of the month and Mary was
to follow him within 12 months. The child bride was accompanied by
Queen Henrietta Maria who brought with her considerable quantities
of jewels and plate in an effort to buy arms to support her husband’s
cause in the Civil War. With the death of her father-in-law in March
1647, her husband succeeded and she became Princess of Orange.
Her life in Holland, however, was difficult because of the animosity
of her mother-in-law and her initial failure to produce an heir. When
eventually a son, the future William III of Great Britain, was born in
late 1650, she was already a widow, her husband having died of
smallpox eight days before. She returned to London four months
after her brother, Charles II, had been restored to the throne but died
of smallpox before the end of the year and was buried in Westminster
Abbey. Another version of the portrait was exhibited recently in the
exhibition ‘Van Dyck & Britain’ at Tate Britain.
Above: Sir Anthony Van Dyck: Portrait of Princess Mary.
The Panel considered that the portrait met the second and third
criteria and that the valuation was fair. The painting has been allocated
to Historic Royal Palaces for display at Hampton Court Palace where,
until 1647, it had originally hung.
14. Joshua Reynolds: Portrait of the
Harcourt Family
The group portrait of George Simon Harcourt, 2nd Earl Harcourt
(1736-1809), his wife Elizabeth Vernon (1746 -1826) and William
Harcourt (1743-1830), who was to succeed his brother as 3rd Earl on
his death in 1809, was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792),
oil on canvas, 148 by 172 cm. He was the first President of the Royal
Academy and one of the foremost portrait painters of the 18th century.
George Harcourt had married Elizabeth Vernon, his cousin, in 1765.
The Earl and Countess are depicted in their peers’ robes while William
is in military uniform. George Harcourt’s father, Simon, was created an
earl in 1749 and later was appointed Viceroy of Ireland. He had sat to
Reynolds in 1754-5 and at about the same time, his elder son, then
Lord Nuneham, was also painted by Reynolds. On the 1st Earl’s death
in 1777, George Simon inherited the title. In the same year William
Harcourt was appointed aide-de-camp to the King and promoted
to colonel in recognition of his capture of the American Major-General,
Charles Lee, in the early months of the American War of Independence.
Reynolds’ pocket books record sittings for Lord Harcourt in late
1777, 1779 and 1780. (The pocket book for 1778 is missing.) Lady
Harcourt had sittings in 1780 as did William Harcourt and payments
from the sitters are recorded in 1777 and 1781. At the same time
Reynolds painted a portrait of Mary Danby, whom William had married
in September 1778.
The portrait is unusual in Reynolds’ output in being a group portrait of
adults who are depicted three-quarter length. He has created a rich,
harmonious and colourful composition of the flamboyant display of
peers’ robes and military uniform worn by the three sitters. Although
the painting has not been exhibited in public since the middle of the
19th century, the composition is known from a mezzotint by Tomkins.
The Panel considered that the painting met the third criterion and,
following negotiation, that it was acceptably valued. The painting has
been allocated to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, pending a decision
on permanent allocation.
Below: Joshua Reynolds: Portrait of George Simon
Harcourt, his wife Elizabeth Vernon and William Harcourt.
15. Hand Club and Stone Adze Blades
This collection consists of four items:
a) a Maori mottled nephrite handclub or patu ponamu, 43 cm long;
b) a New Guinea adze blade of dark green hardstone, 17. 5 cm long;
c) an adze blade of brown hardstone, 23.5 cm long; and
d) an adze blade of brown hardstone, 17.8 cm long.
The most important of this group of stone implements is the nephrite
hand club. Patu is the name given to short clubs. While they could also
be made of wood or bone, the most important and valuable were those
made from nephrite or greenstone as it is called in New Zealand or
ponamu in the Maori language. One end is sharpened and used for
thrusting and jabbing at the opponent, while the other is rounded, for
holding in the hand and pierced; originally the hole would have been
threaded with a thong to tie around the wrist. The hand club is also
a traditional symbol of a chief’s authority in Maori culture; those
carved in nephrite required many hours work because the material
is extremely hard and were considered heirlooms, to be passed from
one generation to the next.
Above: Hand club and stone adze blades.
The Panel considered that the collection met the third criterion within
a regional context and that it was acceptably valued. It has been
allocated to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, pending
a decision on permanent allocation.
16. Punch and Judy Archive
The offer comprised a large collection of material relating to the
subject of Punch and Judy. It includes 18th century material from as
early as 1712, ‘Punch turned Critic in a Teller’; coloured prints from the
1790s, early 19th century material such as Pug’s Visit, or The Disasters
of Mr Punch of 1806 and many examples of performances of Punch
and Judy from the mid to late 19th century, besides a wealth of
20th century material on the continuing tradition of Punch and Judy
performances. There is also material on the Italian puppet theatre in
Britain as well as on French puppets.
The British tradition of the puppet characters, Punch and Judy, can
be dated to 1662 when Samuel Pepys noted the performance of an
Italian puppet play that took place within the rails of St Paul’s Church,
Covent Garden. The Italian original comes from the commedia dell’arte
figure of Pulcinella, anglicised to Punchinello or Punch.
The Panel considered that the collection met the third criterion and
that it was in acceptable condition. The original offer price was
considered to be an undervaluation, and the Panel advised the offeror
that it could be increased by over 50 per cent. This was accepted. The
collection has been temporarily allocated to the Victoria and Albert
Museum pending a decision on permanent allocation.
Above: Punch and Judy moveable book
published by Darton, 1840.
17. Thomas Gainsborough: Landscape Open Landscape with a Milkmaid and Cows, Donkeys, a Plough Team
and a Church, Farmhouse and Barn among Trees, oil on canvas,
92.8 by 123 cm, was painted by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788).
The artist, who was born in Sudbury in Suffolk, began his artistic
training in London first briefly with a silver engraver and then with
François Gravelot at the St Martin’s Lane Academy. This may have led
to his involvement with Francis Hayman’s commission to decorate the
supper boxes at Vauxhall Gardens. More certainly, he participated in
the decoration of the Court Room at the Foundling Hospital, which
was being supervised by Hogarth. In 1746 Gainsborough married
Margaret Burr, the natural daughter of the 3rd Duke of Beaufort, who
had a settlement of £200 per annum. Two years later his father died
and he and his wife left London to return to Suffolk, settling in Sudbury
in 1749 where he was able to win commissions from the local gentry.
In 1752 he moved to Ipswich because it offered greater opportunities
to pursue his artistic career.
Although portraiture was the staple of his artistic business, he
produced a steady output of pure landscapes. In later life, when he
declared himself sick of portraits, he mused upon the opportunity
of securing a life of ease which would allow him to wander the
countryside, play music and paint landscapes.
The painting dates to the late 1750s, at the end of the artist’s time in
Ipswich and immediately before his departure for the fashionable spa
town of Bath. It is a fine example of the landscapes of Gainsborough’s
early maturity and is in particularly good condition. It is filled with
typical elements of the East Anglian landscape in which Gainsborough
grew up: the ancient oak, the winding river, the undulating field, the
windmill and the medieval church. It was commissioned by an East
Anglian patron and has passed down through the family for 250 years.
criteria and that it was acceptably valued. The painting has been
allocated to the Castle Museum, Norwich, in accordance with the
condition attached to the offer.
Below: Thomas Gainsborough: Landscape.
18. Sir John Lavery:
Portrait of Violet Trefusis
Portrait of Violet Trefusis, oil on canvas board, 33 by 25 cm, was
painted by Sir John Lavery (1856-1941). Lavery was born in Belfast
and studied in Glasgow and Paris before settling in London where
he achieved a high reputation as a society portrait painter.
Violet Trefusis (1894-1972) was brought up in Court circles, her
mother, Alice Keppel, being mistress to Edward VII. She met Vita
Sackville-West at school and in 1908 they visited Italy together. Vita
married Harold Nicolson in 1912 and Violet was briefly engaged to
Lord Gerald Wellesley and became attached to other young men of
her generation. Violet and Vita renewed their friendship in April 1918
and they soon began what Vita’s son, Nigel Nicolson, described in
Portrait of a Marriage as a “mad and irresponsible summer of moonlight
nights, and infinite escapades, and passionate letters, and music, and
poetry”. Immediately following the end of the war, they travelled to
France, but on their return, at the insistence of her mother, Violet
married Denys Trefusis in June 1919. This, however, did not end the
relationship with Vita. In early 1920 they eloped to France and Denys
Trefusis and Harold Nicolson had to follow them to recover their wives.
They wrote in 1923 a novel which was published, but only in the USA,
and under Vita’s name.
The portrait was painted in 1919 and is an excellent example of the
artist’s bravura technique. It is in exceptional condition. The offer also
included a portrait of the teacher and historian Oscar Browning by
Emanuel Romano (1897-1984).
Above: Sir John Lavery: Portrait of Violet Trefusis.
The Panel considered that the portraits met the second and third
criteria and that they were acceptably valued. The paintings have
been allocated to the National Portrait Gallery pending a decision
19. Penrhyn Castle and
Penrhyn Quarry Papers
The offer comprised the archive from Penrhyn Castle. It is of prime
importance for North Wales and ranges from the 13th to the 20th
centuries. The earliest document records the sale in 1288 of part
of the township of Karnechan. The early part of the archive centres
on the Griffiths of Penrhyn, who were leading servants of the princes
of Gwynedd and played a key part in the attempt of those princes
to create a single Welsh principality. In the 14th century they trod
a careful path between recognising the political realities of English
dominance and their own Welsh allegiance, but their support for
Owain Glyndŵr weakened their predominance in the region. The
archive contains 30 deeds of the 14th century, 90 of the 15th and
120 of the 16th, along with large quantities of later material.
The archive includes many documents relating to the Pennant family
holdings in Jamaica, dating back to 1666, just a few years after the
island’s capture. In addition to an extensive run of deeds, many with
detailed slave lists, the archive comprises numerous maps and a
particularly important sequence of letters between the Pennants
and their estate manager in Jamaica.
The wealth accrued from the Jamaican estates allowed the family to
develop the slate quarry at Penrhyn, which was to become the largest
in the world. The papers relating to this activity cover the period
1834 to 1950 and are particularly rich for the years around the turn
of the 19th century. Although the main concentration is on account
books, ledgers and production records, there is also considerable
correspondence between Lord Penrhyn and the quarry managers.
The Panel considered that the papers variously met the first and third
criteria and that, following negotiation, they were acceptably valued.
The papers have been allocated to the Bangor University Library
and to Caernarfon Record Office, where they had previously been
on deposit, pending a decision on permanent allocation.
20. Francesco Guardi:
The Entrance to the Grand Canal
The Entrance to the Grand Canal, oil on canvas, 34 by 45 cm, was
painted by Francesco Guardi (1712-1793). The artist came from a
family of painters but it was not until after the death of his brother
Gian Antonio (1699-1760) that he achieved the recognisable style
upon which his fame rests as one of the greatest of Venetian
veduta painters.
The painting depicts one of the most familiar Venetian scenes,
the view across the Grand Canal towards the Punta della Dogana,
the Customs House of the city. The corner tower is topped by a
golden ball itself crowned by the figure of Fortune which acts as
a weathervane. In the background, beyond the boats in the distance,
are the buildings of the Guidecca. Although the painting gives the
impression of being a faithful depiction of a well-known Venetian view,
Guardi has typically manipulated the details for artistic effect. The size
of the ball and of the figure above has been enlarged, as has the white
building on the right.
Guardi painted this scene repeatedly and a smaller version is in the
National Gallery in London. The version offered was in the collection
of the Earls Spencer during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Panel considered that the painting met the third criterion and
that it was acceptably valued. It has been allocated to Northampton
Museum in accordance with the condition of the offeror to join an
interesting collection of 18th century Italian paintings.
Below: Francesco Guardi:
The Entrance to the Grand Canal.
21. Ambrosius Bosschaert The Elder:
Flower Painting
A Bouquet of Flowers in a Blue and White Wan-Li Porcelain Vase, on
copper, signed with the artist’s monogram in the lower right, 69 by 51
cm, was painted by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573-1621). The
artist was born in Antwerp but moved to Middelburg where he became
a member of the Guild of St Luke, the painters’ guild, in 1593. He
married Maria van der Ast in 1604 and his brother-in-law, Balthasar,
became his pupil and collaborator. As well as being a painter he also
acted as a dealer, buying and selling both Dutch and foreign paintings
like several other artists of the period. He is one of the first and finest
Dutch flower painters.
The painting is unusually large for Bosschaert. It depicts in a broadly
symmetrical composition a vase of flowers including, at the top of the
composition, a stem of white Madonna lilies along with costly striped
tulips, roses, narcissi, columbines, carnations, fritillaries, bluebells,
marigolds, lilies-of-the-valley and wallflowers. They are all depicted
with near scientific accuracy, as are the insects and the caterpillar that
can be found among the blooms. A Red Admiral butterfly is shown
on the shelf supporting the vase as well as some rare shells which
would have been known in Holland from the examples brought back
from the Far East by Dutch seamen. At the time, all these items and
flowers would have been recognized for their rarity and exotic nature,
as would the Chinese vase in which the flowers sit. It is significant
that Middleburg was renowned in the early 17th century for its
botanical gardens.
On stylistic grounds the painting has been dated c. 1609-10, when
the artist was at the height of his powers. The smooth surface of the
copper panel enhances the artist’s precise technique and gives a
jewel-like brilliance to the brightly coloured flowers. The painting has
not previously been exhibited and is in very fine condition. It represents
a highly significant addition to Bosschaert’s known output, which
consists of about fifty works.
criteria and that the valuation was fair. The painting has been
temporarily allocated to The National Gallery pending a decision
Above: Ambrosius Bosschaert:
Flower Painting.
22. Perino del Vaga: Study of Arms
The red chalk drawing on two sheets of paper which have been laid
down on the same mount, 26.5 by 16.7 cm, has been attributed to
Pietro Buonaccorsi. It consists of several studies of outstretched
arms and a study concentrating on the hand. It has a distinguished
provenance, bearing the inscription ‘Jerom’ which has been associated
with Nicholas Lanier’s uncle, Jerome, an active collector of drawings
in the period before his death in 1657. Nicholas Lanier, Master of
the King’s Music, who was one of Charles’s I art agents and also
a distinguished collector in his own right, owned the drawing in the
second half of the 17th century. He inscribed the drawing with the
word ‘Perino’. It later passed into the ownership of Sir Joshua
Reynolds. An anonymous 19th century collector has inscribed
‘Serrani’ (for the 17th century Bolognese artist, Elisabetta Sirani)
by the four upper studies and ‘Annibale’ (for Annibale Carracci) by
the lowest study.
The attribution to Pietro Buonaccorsi, called Perino del Vaga
(1501-1547) is plausible. He was born in Florence, but moved to Rome
in 1516 and became a pupil of Raphael. He participated in his master’s
work on the frescos in the Loggia of the Vatican and after Raphael’s
death in 1520 he established himself as one of Rome’s leading fresco
painters. The sack of the city in 1527 led him to move to Genoa for
over a decade but he returned in 1538 and established a large and
thriving workshop. The drawing offered can be compared with a study
in the Albertina, Vienna, for the figure of John the Baptist in Perino’s
Nativity, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington but originally
painted for a church in Genoa. A study in the Louvre of the dead
Christ includes two similar studies of outstretched arms. A possible
alternative attribution is to another of Raphael’s pupils, Polidoro da
Caravaggio. What is certain is that the drawing is both of high quality
and by an artist from the circle of Raphael.
The Panel considered that the drawing met the second and third
criteria and that, following negotiation, the valuation was fair. The
drawing has been permanently allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum,
Cambridge, in accordance with the condition attached to the offer.
Above: Perino del Vaga: Study of Arms.
23. Jakob Bogdani: Birds In A Landscape
Parrots, a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, a Magpie, a Jay and other Birds
beside a Vase in a Park Setting, oil on canvas, 122 by 136 cm, was
painted by Jakob Bogdani (1658-1724). The artist was born in upper
Hungary, the son of a painter and probably his pupil. In the mid-1680s
he spent two years in Amsterdam in the company of another still-life
painter. In 1688 he moved to London and settled in the parish of
St Giles-in-the-Fields where he remained for the rest of his life. George
Vertue records in his notebooks that this mild, gentle-tempered man,
courteous and civil, within a short time, “had gained great applause
and was much employed by people of Quality, in whose possession
are many of his pieces”.
A commission from Queen Mary to provide flower pieces to decorate
her Looking Glass Closet in the Thames Gallery at Hampton Court
established the artist’s reputation in England. He also received
commissions from the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Oxford,
Sir Robert Walpole and the Earl of Albermarle. His early work
primarily consists of flower and fruit still-lifes and it was only later
that he produced the bird paintings for which he is best remembered
today and in which he was influenced by the Dutch painter
Melchior de Hondecoeter.
The Panel considered that the painting met the third criterion
within a regional context and that the valuation was acceptable.
The canvas has been allocated to Cheltenham Art Gallery and
Museum in accordance with the condition attached to the offer.
Below: Jakob Bogdani: Birds in a Landscape.
24. Bonaventura Peeters: Shipping
on the Schelde off Antwerp
Shipping on the Schelde off Antwerp, oil on panel, 63.5 by 129 cm,
signed on a spar in the lower right and dated 1649, was painted by
Bonaventura Peeters the Elder (1614-1652). The artist was born in
Antwerp and became the leading member of a family of marine and
landscape painters. His early training is undocumented although his
style suggests he may have studied with Andries van Eertvelt. He
shared a studio in Antwerp with his elder brother, Gilis Peeters, and in
1634 became a master in the city’s Guild of St Luke. He later shared
a house with his sister and brother, Jan Peeters, to the south of
Antwerp at Hoboken. His early naturalistic painting shows affinities
with Salomon van Ruysdael, Simon de Vlieger and Hendrick Vroom.
He made several sea journeys both to Holland and further north.
Paintings from the 1640s suggest that he must have visited
Scandinavia and Russia. His sea-going experience accounts for the
high degree of accuracy in his paintings of ships and their rigging as
well as of atmospheric conditions.
The painting is a particularly ambitious example of the artist’s work
both in its scale and in the degree of finish, probably because it was
the result of a specific and important commission. The largest vessel,
depicted centre right, is the State Yacht on which can be identified,
dressed in red, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Governor of the Spanish
Netherlands, and Don Gaspar de Bracamonte y Guzmán, leader of the
Spanish delegation at the Treaty of Westphalia. The latter is dressed
in black with the red cross of the Order of Santiago de Compostela.
Both men are known to have been in Antwerp in July 1648 for the
celebrations that followed the signing of the Treaty of Osnabrück
which, along with the Treaty of Munster, led to the end of the Thirty
Years’ War.
The Panel considered that the painting met the third criterion and that
it was acceptably valued. The painting awaits permanent allocation.
Below: Bonaventura Peeters
Shipping on the Schelde off Antwerp.
25. Sir John Everett Millais:
The Proscribed Royalist
The Proscribed Royalist, oil on panel, signed with monogram, 25.4 cm
by 20 cm, was painted as a reduced replica by Sir John Everett Millais
(1829-1896). The artist was one of the founding members of the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, in September 1848, along with Rossetti
and Holman Hunt. They reacted against the classicism that held sway
in British art and especially at the Royal Academy where Reynolds’s
aspiration to achieve a beauty never found in nature still set the
dominant tone. The Brotherhood, in contrast, aspired to be true to
nature and to paint people and objects as they were. This resulted in
a detailed and meticulous style of painting which sought to represent
accurately the objects depicted.
Millais’s first painting in a Pre-Raphaelite manner was exhibited in
1849 and the next few years saw him produce the paintings for which
he is most famous; Christ in the House of his Parents and Ferdinand
and Ariel, both of 1850, were followed by Mariana and Ophelia in the
next two years. In 1853 he exhibited The Proscribed Royalist at the
Royal Academy when he was still only 23. That painting is now owned
by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. The version which was
offered in lieu is a reduced replica. Although the artist does not
mention it in his correspondence, it is believed to have been painted
at about the time that the full-size version was exhibited, as a way for
the artist to gain financially from the success of the exhibited painting.
The painting depicts a Cavalier soldier being hidden in an oak tree by
his Puritan lover. The incident recalls the escape of Charles II after the
battle of Worcester in 1651 when he hid in the Boscobel Oak before
fleeing to France. Millais based the features of the soldier on those of
his fellow artist, Arthur Hughes.
following negotiation, that it was acceptably valued. The painting
awaits permanent allocation.
Below: Sir John Everett Millais: The Proscribed Royalist.
26. Jean Tijou: Architectural Design
This red chalk drawing on fine laid paper, watermarked ‘J.B.’, 25 by
13.5 cm, was the basis of the engraving published as Plate 13 in
A New Book of Drawings invented and designed by John Tijou, London,
1693. Little is known about Tijou’s life and it is assumed that he
was one of the Huguenot craftsmen who came to England from
France and the Low Countries in the later part of the 17th century.
He arrived in London in 1689 where for the next decade he worked
for William and Mary at Hampton Court. His elaborate designs and
the superb quality of the workmanship are evident in the wrought-iron
balustrades for the King’s and Queen’s staircases at Hampton Court
and in the gates and screens which he designed for the Fountain
Garden but which now are at the southern end of the Privy Garden.
Further examples of his ironwork can be seen on the staircases at
Chatsworth and at St Paul’s Cathedral.
A New Book of Drawings invented and designed by John Tijou
was the earliest book of ironwork designs in England. The plates
were engraved by Blaise Gentot (1658-1700) and a pirated edition
was published in the early 18th century in France. Batty Langley,
the influential writer on architecture, reproduced several of the plates,
without attribution, in his 1740 publication, The City and Country
Builder’s and Workman’s Treasury of Designs.
This design relates to Christopher Wren’s commission of 1692 to
remodel the old House of Commons. Since the galleries that were
added at this time could not be supported by stone piers, iron columns
were used. This is possibly the first recorded use of cast-iron in an
architectural context. This drawing, the only one by Tijou known to
exist, shows the design which would have been presented to Wren
for approval.
The Panel considered that the drawing met the third criterion and that
it was acceptably valued. The drawing has been temporarily allocated
to the RIBA Drawings Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, pending
a decision on permanent allocation.
Above: Jean Tijou: Architectural design.
27. A Roman Marble Funerary Altar
and Monument
The offer consisted of two antiquities:
a) A Roman marble altar from Aquileia, inscribed on the front
BELENO / AVG SACR / I CORNELIVS / L FIL VELL /
SECVNDINVS / AQVIL / EVOC AVG N / QVOD IN VRB / DONVM
VOV / AQVIL / PERLATVM / LIBENS POSVIT /L D D D
First-second century AD.
100 cm high; 36 cm wide; 26 cm deep
b) A Roman marble funerary monument, inscribed on the front:
DIIS MANIBVS / ISTIMENNIA PF / PRIMIGENIA / SIBI ET /
P MVRRIO PRIMO / CONIVGI SVO ET / LIBERTIS LIBERTABVSQ /
POSTERISQUE EORVM
First-second century AD with basso-relievo carvings of a cleaver
on the left side and a balance in the right.
65 cm high; 45 cm wide; 28 cm deep
The altar was found near Belina, Aquileia, in 1548 and was acquired
for the Grimani. Members of the Grimani family were bishops of
Aquileia for almost all of the 16th century and Giovanni Grimani was
bishop when the altar was unearthed. It remained there until the
collection was dispersed in the 19th century. It is a fine and wellpreserved example of a Roman altar for a private individual.
The funerary monument, notable for the carvings which indicate that it
was for a butcher, is first recorded in England in the late 18th century.
It was placed by Sir William Stanhope in the famous Grotto that the
poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) had created in the grounds of his
Thameside house at Twickenham. Following Pope’s death, Stanhope
had bought the house and acquired this and another, now lost,
funerary monument to provide bases for two classical statues of
Roman figures.
The Panel considered that the antiquities met the third criterion
and that they were acceptably valued. They have been allocated
to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, pending a decision on
Above: A Roman Funerary Monument, side and front.
28. Sir Howard Hodgkin:
Portrait of Peter Cochrane
Portrait of Peter Cochrane, oil on canvas, 61 by 45.7 cm, was painted
by Sir Howard Hodgkin (b. 1932). After studying at Camberwell
School of Art and at Bath Academy, Corsham, the artist first exhibited
in London in 1962. The bright, apparently abstract, works that he has
painted since the 1970s reflect his response to people and to places.
His international stature is indicated by the presence of his paintings
in many public and private collections of modern and contemporary art
throughout the world.
The portrait, which was painted in 1962-3, evokes the influential
and respected art dealer Peter Cochrane (1913-2004). Cochrane’s
career began with the firm of Arthur Tooth and Sons, where he was
instrumental in bringing contemporary American and European art to
London. Among the artists he exhibited were Nicolas de Staël, Jean
Dubuffet, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Asger Jorn, Sam Francis and Ellsworth
Kelly. At the time that this portrait was being painted, Hodgkin was
represented by Arthur Tooth. It was selected by the critic Edward
Lucie-Smith for a mixed show of British Art in 1963 and was in
Hodgkin’s second solo exhibition at Arthur Tooth in 1964.
The Panel considered that the portrait met the third criterion and that
it was acceptably valued. It has been allocated to the National Portrait
Gallery pending a decision on permanent allocation.
Above: Sir Howard Hodgkin: Portrait of Peter Cochrane.
29. Two Paintings by David Hockney
This offer in lieu consisted of two paintings from the early 1960s by
David Hockney (b. 1937)
1. Study for Doll Boy, 1960, oil on canvas, 61 by 40 cm; and
2. The Berliner and the Bavarian, 1962, oil on canvas, 90.5 by 122 cm.
David Hockney was born in Bradford and attended Bradford Art
College before moving in 1959 to study for three years at the Royal
College of Art (RCA). His outstanding talent had already been
recognised in 1961 when he won the junior prize at the John Moores
Liverpool exhibition and he went on to win the RCA’s Gold Medal.
The first painting was produced during Hockney’s second year at the
RCA at a time when Cliff Richard’s Living Doll was top of the pops.
The single figure with head thrown back appears to be about to be
crushed by the mass at the top of the painting which at the same time
he appears almost to kiss. The words ‘unorthodox lover’, taken from
Walt Whitman, decorate the canvas. The painting shows Hockney’s
assimilation of elements of the style and technique of Bacon and
Dubuffet, both of whom had exhibited recently in London.
Having graduated from the Royal College he went to Germany
and visited many of the museums in Berlin. In The Berliner and the
Bavarian the Bavarian is seen like a museum exhibit on a plinth.
The painting marks one of the artist’s first essays in double portrait
painting. When it was exhibited at The Whitechapel Gallery in 1970,
he wrote, “This painting matches an observation about two distinct
types of head and face to a quasi-political comment on the stress of
living in Berlin.”
Both paintings were acquired by the theatre producer Frith Banbury
and his partner Christopher Taylor, who were among the first collectors
to support the artist.
The Panel considered that the paintings met the second and third
criteria and that they were acceptably valued. They have been
allocated to Tate in accordance with the wish of the offeror.
Above: David Hockney: Study for Doll Boy, 1960.
Below: David Hockney: The Berliner and the Bavarian, 1962.
30. Joseph Highmore: Portrait of the
Vigor Family
The Portrait of the Vigor Family, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1744,
76.2 by 99.1 cm, was painted by Joseph Highmore (1692-1780).
The artist was born in London and attended Merchant Taylors’ School
before training as a lawyer. He was, however, determined to be an
artist like his uncle, who enjoyed the lucrative post of serjeant-painter
to the King in the early 18th century. He appears not to have been
trained either by his uncle or any other master, but this did not inhibit
his successful portrait business which allowed him to acquire a
residence in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1724. He visited Holland and Paris
in the 1730s. Among his clientele, who came predominantly from the
rising professional middle-classes, he had a high reputation for
small-scale group portraits.
An inscription on the back of the painting identifies the figure on the
left, seated at the table engaged in her needlework, as Mrs Vigor
(1699-1783) who was married three times. In 1728, shortly after
inheriting a considerable fortune on her father’s death, Jane Goodwin
married Thomas Ward. He died within three years and she married her
husband’s secretary, Claudius Rondeau. Both her first two husbands
were involved in business with the Russia Company in St Petersburg.
When Rondeau died in 1739, she returned to England from Russia
with a letter of recommendation to George II from the Empress Anna.
On her way home she met her third husband, William Vigor, who is
probably the seated male figure in the portrait. They settled in Taplow
and then in Windsor where William died in 1767. Eight years later she
published Letters from a Lady who Resided some Years in Russia, to
her Friend in England, which received both popular and critical success
and was immediately translated into French, German and Dutch and a
second English edition soon followed. Additional letters were published
after her death in 1784.
following negotiation, that it was acceptably valued. It has been
allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in accordance with the
Below: Joseph Highmore: Portrait of the
Vigor Family.
31. 18th century Needlework
This set of embroidered chair and sofa covers is in the same style
as the piece of embroidery which Jane Vigor carefully displays in the
Highmore portrait (Case 30, opposite). The embroidery and the painting
have a direct provenance back to Jane Vigor and, although there is
no documentary evidence to link the needlework to her, there is no
reason to doubt the family tradition. Being depicted in the painting
with her embroidery indicates the importance that the sitter gave
to this activity.
The embroideries are in an exceptionally fresh state of preservation
although it is clear that at some stage the covers have been used for
the purpose for which they were intended. Jane Vigor may have made
these embroideries while she was in Russia and brought them back to
England on the death of her second husband. Further research into
the materials used may be able to throw more light on this suggestion.
The Panel considered that the embroideries met the third criterion and
were in an exceptional state of preservation. They were considered to
have been offered at a serious undervaluation and the Panel proposed
that it should be increased by a factor of six. This was accepted by the
offeror. They have been allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum,
along with the Highmore painting, in accordance with the condition
attached to the offer.
The offer consisted of:
1) a set of four chair backs, embroidered
on eau-de-nil shantung Chinese silk
ground, embroidered in crewelwork with
sprays of flowers tied with a blue ribbon,
46 cm square;
2) a sofa seat and back ensuite worked
with twin Chinese blue and white spiral
cornucopiae, the sofa back worked
with a central flower spray tied with blue
ribbon and two flanking cornucopiae,
59 by 140 cm;
3) three chair backs and seats; seats
42 by 46 cm, backs 42 by 55 cm; and
4) five chair seats and backs en suite,
each 48 by 55 cm.
Below: A mid-18th century needlework
upholstery panel.
32. F C B Cadell: Still Life
With Green Bottle
Still Life with Green Bottle, oil on canvas, 61 by 46 cm, was painted by
Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937). The artist was one of
the four artists from Edinburgh and the west coast of Scotland who
have become known as the Scottish Colourists. Although they never
comprised a formal artistic movement, Cadell, J D Fergusson, Leslie
Hunter and S J Peploe shared a common awareness of developments
in French painting and their use of brilliant colour and their handling
of paint brought a new vitality to Scottish painting in the first four
decades of the 20th century.
Cadell was born in Edinburgh and studied at the Royal Scottish
Academy but found the teaching uninspiring. In 1899 he moved to
Paris and attended the Académie Julian for four years before returning
home. He later worked in Munich and Venice. By the time he settled
permanently in Edinburgh in 1909, his painting had developed its
characteristic brightly coloured style with its concentration on light and
surface within a carefully controlled structure. Although he had a circle
of supporters and patrons, he never enjoyed any financial security and
his output declined in his later years when he was also hampered by
ill health.
The painting on offer was produced around 1927 when the artist was
at the height of his powers. Its use of blocks of saturated colour to
depict the qualities of the materials, the reflective table surface, the
clear and green glass and the fruit both on the table and depicted in
the background all contribute to the creation of a visually arresting
image which shows the artist at his best.
criteria and that it was acceptably valued. It has been permanently
allocated to the National Galleries of Scotland for display at the
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, in accordance with the
Above: Francis Cadell: Still Life with Green Bottle.
33. Walter Sickert: The Flower Girl
The Flower Girl, oil on canvas, 40.5 by 51 cm, was painted by Walter
Sickert (1860-1942). The artist is recognised increasingly as a crucial
figure as British art moved from Victorian academicism towards an
engagement with the new trends in European art at the end of the
19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Sickert first visited Paris
in 1883 with a letter of introduction from Whistler to both Degas and
Manet. There he experienced the latest artistic developments at first
hand and in Degas he found particular inspiration which was to
develop into close friendship. Degas encouraged him to develop his
paintings from sketches prepared on the spot and to choose as
subjects, places of popular entertainment and the activities of ordinary
people. Sickert was to have a profound effect on artists in Britain
during the early years of the 20th century.
Above: Walter Sickert: The Flower Girl.
This painting dates to the period after Sickert’s return to London from
Dieppe where he had lived from 1897 to 1905. During this period he
renewed his interest in London’s music halls and developed a circle of
younger pupils and colleagues which in 1911 led to the establishment
of the Camden Town Group. The painting has an interesting
provenance. It was acquired directly from the artist by Clive Bell,
the writer and art critic who was a central figure in the Bloomsbury
Group and who married Vanessa Stephen, sister of Virginia Woolf.
He assisted Roger Fry in the organisation of the Second PostImpressionist Exhibition in London in 1912. The painting appears in a
photograph of about 1927 of Clive Bell’s sitting-room at 50 Gordon
Square, London where it hung alongside paintings by Juan Gris and
Othon Friesz. With the coming of World War II, Bell, a committed
pacifist, moved to Charleston, the Sussex farmhouse, where he set up
home with Vanessa and her then partner, Duncan Grant. The painting
hung in the spare room, which was used to show important paintings
in a Bloomsbury decorative interior, hanging alongside Duncan Grant’s
portrait of Lytton Strachey and pictures by Roger Fry, Nina Hamnett,
and two prints by Sickert, all of which remain at Charleston. In his
1956 collection of memoirs, Old Friends, Bell describes Sickert as
“the greatest British painter since Constable”.
The Panel considered that the painting met the third and fourth
criteria and that it was acceptably valued. It has been allocated to
the Charleston Trust, where it will be hung in the same position it
occupied from 1939 until 1969.
34. The Shrubland Park
Architectural Archive
Shrubland Park, near Ipswich in Suffolk, was the seat of the
De Saumarez family. At its centre is Shrubland Hall which was
first built in the 1770s to a design of James Paine for the wealthy
clergyman, the Reverend John Bacon. The estate was acquired
by the Middleton family in 1796.
This architectural archive relates to the major additions to the
18th century house which were made in the 1830s for Sir William
Middleton by John Peter Gandy-Deering (1787-1850) and in the
period 1848-54 by Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) and Alexander
Roos (c.1810-1881). The archive consists of approximately 115
original drawings, sketches and office copy drawings.
J P Gandy-Deering, the younger brother of the architect, Joseph
Michael Gandy, remodelled the west front of Shrubland Hall, moving
the entrance from the west to the east side of the house, erecting
the lower part of a tower in the south-east corner and building a
conservatory on the south side. The changes were in the Greek
Revival style.
Alexander Roos, who has recently been identified as the architect of
the group of Italiante gates and entrance lodges at Shrubland, was
born in Italy and studied classical architecture before becoming a pupil
of Karl Friedrich Schinkel in Berlin. By 1835 he was in England where
his most important commission was the reconstruction of the
Deepdene in Surrey for Henry Thomas Hope.
The Barry drawings relate to later developments in the period
1848-54 and are in the Italianate Renaissance style. Barry proposed
raising the existing tower, adding two others, altering the east and
west fronts and making extensive alterations to the gardens
and terraces.
The Panel considered that the archive met the third and fourth criteria
and that it was acceptably valued. It has been allocated to the Suffolk
Record Office in accordance with the condition attached to the offer.
35. The Archive of Sir Joseph Rotblat
The large archive covers the whole of the work of Sir Joseph Rotblat
(1908-2005) from the 1930s until his death. Born in Warsaw,
he was apprenticed at the age of 12 to an electrician while studying
in the evening. After taking a master’s degree in physics at the
Free University of Poland, he undertook research in Warsaw on
the bombardment of nuclear particles and gained his PhD in 1938.
He had ambitions for the Radiological Laboratory of Warsaw to build
a cyclotron and came, at the invitation of James Chadwick, to Liverpool
University which was then building its own cyclotron. Chadwick invited
him to stay in Liverpool; he returned to Warsaw to bring his wife back
with him to England but she fell ill and he had to leave alone, just days
before the Nazi invasion.
In Liverpool, Rotblat worked on the recently discovered process of
fission and fission chain reactions, becoming part of the ‘Tube Alloys’
directorate, the government body responsible for research and
development in the field of atomic energy during World War II. From
the beginning he had reservations about working on the development
of atomic weapons but feared the greater evil of their being developed
first by the Nazis. By March 1944 he had joined the Manhattan Project
at Los Alamos, New Mexico, but within a few months, as it became
apparent that Germany had only rudimentary knowledge of fission,
he left the project and returned to Britain. He was the only scientist
to leave Los Alamos on grounds of conscience.
Following the war he helped form the Atomic Scientists Association,
the objectives of which were to educate the public about the dangers
as well as the benefits of atomic energy and to influence public policy.
As part of this effort he organised the Atomic Train, a travelling
exhibition which toured the UK. In 1949 he became professor of
medical physics at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, where he
remained until his retirement in 1976, carrying out important research
on radiotherapy and the effect of radiation exposure on human tissue.
As the increased dangers of nuclear fallout became recognised
following the 1954 explosion of the hydrogen bomb, Rotblat and
Bertrand Russell began campaigning for greater awareness of the
dangers to mankind. This concern was formalised in the Pugwash
conferences which, since 1957, have played an important role in
bringing together scientists and politicians from across the world.
In 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged the importance of Pugwash
in ending the Cold War. Much of the organisation’s dynamism was due
to Rotblat’s capabilities and energy, which were recognised when he
and Pugwash were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on the
fiftieth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Top: Sir Joseph Rotblat.
Middle and bottom: Images of the Atomic Train.
The Panel considered that the archive met the first and third criteria
and that it was acceptably valued. It has been allocated to the Churchill
Archive Centre, Cambridge, in accordance with the condition attached
to the offer.
36. Paris Bordone: Narcissus
Narcissus, oil on canvas, 58.4 by 40.7 cm, was painted by Paris
Bordone (1500-1571). The artist was born in Treviso but following
the death of his father in 1507, he and his mother moved to Venice.
He briefly entered Titian’s workshop but was producing his own signed
paintings by 1518. His earliest extant works date to the mid-1520s
and show that he had studied the works of Lotto, Pordenone, Palma
Vecchio and Titian. He told Vasari in later life that he sought to follow
the style of Giorgione. His major breakthrough in Venice came with
a commission for a large canvas for the Scuola Grande di S. Marco.
In 1540 he travelled to work for patrons in Augsburg and then Milan.
He returned in 1545 and, except for a brief period in Treviso in 1557,
he remained for the rest of his life in Venice. As well as religious works,
he produced portraits and fanciful studies of women, usually with
erotic overtones.
The work on offer evokes a timeless and dreamlike world of sensuous
beauty that was the hallmark of a class of painting termed poesie,
regarded as the visual equivalent of poetry. A youth, identified as
Narcissus, is viewed from behind as he dries himself beside a highly
elaborate and sculptural fountain. It can be compared with Bordone’s
Bathsheba at the Fountain, in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg, which is
dated 1552.
The Panel considered that the painting met the third criterion
and that it was acceptably valued. It has been temporarily allocated
to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, pending a decision on
Below: Paris Bordone: Narcissus.
Appendices
Acceptance in Lieu
Appendix 1
Appendix 1 – Cases completed in 2008/09
Case/Description
Date of
Offer1
Date of
Approval2
Date of
Completion
1. Titian: The Triumph of Love
Mar 2004
Sep 2004
Aug 2008
£619,856 Ashmolean Museum
2. Gainsborough:
Rev. Isaac Donnithorne
Oct 2006
Jun 2008
Aug 2008
£484,750 to be confirmed
3. Trafalgar Sword and
Three Groups of Medals
May 2004
Aug 2007
Apr 2008
£117,010 National Trust (Claydon)
4. Archive of Frank Martin
Oct 2006
Nov 2007
Jul 2008
5. Archive of Henry Addington
Oct 2006
Feb 2008
May 2008
£620,897 Devon Record Office
6. David Allan:
Leadmining at Leadhills
Feb 2007
Apr 2008
Aug 2008
£185,281 National Galleries of Scotland
7. The Bingley Cups
May 2007
Dec 2007
Jul 2008
£847,845 Victoria and Albert Museum
8. Paintings by Bomberg & Eardley Aug 2007
Mar 2008
July 2008
9. The Aberdare Archive
Sep 2007
Apr 2008
Aug 2008
10. Auerbach: Portrait of Julia
Sep 2007
Nov 2007
May 2008
11. Millet: The Angelus
Aug 2008
Dec 2008
Mar 2009
£1,050,000 to be confirmed
12. J Runciman:
Hagar and the Angel
Oct 2007
Dec 2008
Mar 2009
13. Van Dyck: Princess Mary
Apr 2008
Jul 2008
Oct 2008
14. Reynolds: Harcourt Family
Dec 2007
Sep 2008
Dec 2008
15. Hand Club and Stone Adzes
Dec 2007
Mar 2008
Oct 2008
16. Punch and Judy Archive
Aug 2006
Jul 2008
March 2009
£9, 450 to be confirmed
17. Gainsborough: Landscape
Jan 2008
May 2008
Jan 2009
18. Lavery: Violet Trefusis
Jan 2008
Apr 2008
Jul 2008
19. Archive of Penrhyn Castle
Feb 2008 Oct 2008
(Apr 2008)
Jan 2009
20. Guardi: Entrance to the
Grand Canal
Dec 2007
Mar 2008
Oct 2008
£175,000 Northampton Museum
& Art Gallery
21. Bosschaert: Flower painting
Apr 2008
July 2008
Mar 2009
22. Perino del Vaga: Study of Arms
May 2008
Oct 2008
Mar 2009
23. Bogdani: Birds
May 2008
Sep 2008
Nov 2008
£102,975 Cheltenham Art Gallery
& Museum
24. Peeters:
Shipping on the Schelde
May 2008
Sep 2008
Nov 2008
25. Millais: The Proscribed Royalist
Jun 2008
Jan 2009
Mar 2009
26. Tijou: Architectural design
Jun 2008
Sep 2008
Oct 2008
27. Roman funerary
monument and altar
Jun 2008
Sep 2008
Oct 2008
28. Hodgkin: Peter Cochrane
Jun 2008
Oct 2008
Feb 2009
29. Hockney: Two paintings
Jul 2008
Nov 2008
Dec 2008
Tax Permanent Allocation
Settled
£700,000 Norwich Castle Museum
£59,636 Fitzwilliam Museum
Case/Description
Date of
Offer1
Date of
Approval2
Date of
Completion
Tax Permanent Allocation
Settled
30. Highmore: The Vigor Family
Aug 2008
Dec 2008
Mar 2009
31. 18th century Needlework
Aug 2008
Dec 2008
Mar 2009
32. Cadell:
Still Life with Green Bottle
Dec 2007
Apr 2008
May 2008
33. Sickert: The Flower Girl
Oct 2008
Dec 2008
Mar 2009
£56,000 Charleston Trust
34. Shrubland Park
Architectural Archive
Aug 2008
Jan 2009
Mar 2009
£51,608 Suffolk Record Office
35. Archive of Sir Joseph Rotblat
Aug 2008
Dec 2008
Jan 2009
£245,000 Churchill Archive Centre
36. Paris Bordone: Narcissus
Nov 2008
Jan 2009
Mar 2009
£154,000 Scottish National Gallery
of Modern Art
Total Tax Settled
£10,838,539
Total Agreed Value
£19,798,825
1The date that the offer was first received by MLA. In some cases full details were not received until a later date and this date is given in brackets.
2Offers are approved following the recommendation of the AIL Panel. It is then for HMRC and the offering estate to complete the legal transfer
of ownership by which the offer is completed.
Appendix 2
Members of the AIL Panel
Jonathan Scott CBEChairman of AIL Panel since August 2000. Previously: Chairman of the Reviewing
Committee on the Export of Works of Art; Deputy Chairman of the Trustees of
the Victoria and Albert Museum; Trustee of the Imperial War Museum.
Geoffrey Bond DL OBE Chair MLA London, MLA Board Member. Broadcaster and Lawyer.
Patrick Elliott
Curator, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.
Katharine EustaceEditor, The Sculpture Journal; Trustee Compton Verney Collections Settlement.
Mark FisherMP and former Minister for the Arts; author of Britain’s Best Museums & Galleries,
Penguin, 2004.
Andrew McIntosh PatrickDealer and collector; formerly Managing Director of the Fine Art Society,
New Bond Street, London.
James Methuen-CampbellOf Corsham Court, Corsham, Wiltshire. (until 31 March 2009)
David ScraseAssistant Director Collections, Keeper, Paintings, Drawings & Prints, Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge.
Lindsay StaintonFormerly curator in Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum;
subsequently with London dealers Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox; now with Paul Mellon
Centre for Studies in British Art.
Christopher Wright OBEFormerly, Keeper of Manuscripts, British Library, member of Reviewing Committee
on the Export of Works of Arts.
Lucy WoodSenior Curator of Furniture, Textiles and Fashion Dept., Victoria and Albert
Museum; former curator at Lady Lever Art Gallery, Wirral.
Appendix 3
Expert Advisers 2008/09
Philip Mould Historical Portraits Ltd
Glyn Parry National Library of Wales
Brian Allen
Paul Mellon Centre
Wendy Baron
Independent Consultant
Jean-Luc Baroni
Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd
Hugh Belsey
Anne-Marie Benson
Iona Bonham-Carter
Patrick Bourne
Fine Art Society
Christopher Brown
Ashmolean Museum
Lucilla Burn
Fitzwilliam Museum
Richard Calvocoressi
Henry Moore Foundation
Hugo Chapman
British Museum
Mary Clapinson
St Hugh’s College, Oxford
Caroline Cuthbert
Paul Taylor Warburg Institute, University
of London
Joshua Darby
Browse and Darby
Michael Tollemache Tollemache Fine Art Ltd
Alastair Dickenson
Alastair Dickenson Ltd
Barbara Tomlinson National Maritime Museum
Nimrod Dix
Dix, Noonan Webb
Charles TrumanGurr Johns
James Ede
Charles Ede Ltd
Marjorie Trusted Victoria and Albert Museum
David Ekserdjian
University of Leicester
Robert Upstone Tate
Peter Finer
Peter Finer Ltd
Johnny Van HaeftenJohnny Van Haeften Gallery
Celina Fox
Liz Verity National Maritime Museum
Francesca Galloway
Francesca Galloway Ltd
Offer Waterman Offer Waterman & Co.
Guy Peploe The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Carol Plazzotta The National Gallery
Hamish Riley-Smith Hamish Riley-Smith Rare Books
and Manuscripts
Julian RotaBertram Rota Ltd
Martin Royalton-Kisch British Museum
Michael SimpsonHazlitt, Gooden and Fox
Peyton SkipwithIndependent Consultant
Susan Sloman W/S Fine Art
Alison Smith Tate
Georgina StonorIndependent Consultant
Michael Graham-Stewart Independent Consultant
Aidan Weston-Lewis National Gallery of Scotland
Richard Green
Richard Green Fine Paintings
Catherine WhistlerAshmolean Museum, Oxford
John Harris
Karen Hearn
Tate
Colin WhiteDirector, Royal Naval Museum,
Portsmouth
Charles Hind
British Architectural Library
Thomas Williams Thomas Williams Fine Art Ltd
Robert Holden
Robert Holden Ltd
Andrew WilsonTate
James Holland-Hibbert Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert
John WilsonJohn Wilson Manuscripts Ltd
Paul Joannides
University of Cambridge
Tom Wilson The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Jonathan King
British Museum
Christopher WoodChristopher Wood Gallery
Tim Knox
Sir John Soane Museum
Catherine Lampert
Helen Langley
Bodleian Library
Ed Maggs
Maggs Brothers
David Mannings
University of Aberdeen
Gregory Martin
Patrick Matthiesen
The Matthiesen Gallery
Peter Mitchell
John Mitchell Fine Paintings
Lucy Morton
Anthony Mould
Anthony Mould Ltd
Appendix 4
Allocation of items reported in earlier Reports but only decided
in 2008/09.
The Gerald Coke Handel Collection, which was
accepted in 1998, has been permanently allocated
to The Foundling Museum where it had been on deposit
since being accepted.
R P Bonington’s Le Château de la Duchesse de Berry
which was case 37 in the 2002/03 Report has been
permanently allocated to the Castle Museum and Art
Gallery, Nottingham.
The Architectural Archive of William Nicholas Brakspear
which was case 10 in the 2007/08 Report has been
allocated to the Royal Institute of British Architects,
in accordance with the wish of the offeror.
The Archive of the Winn Family of Nostell Priory which
was case 16 in the 2007/08 Report has been allocated
for five years to Wakefield Metropolitan District Council
for management by the West Yorkshire Archive Service.
Horace Walpole’s Mirror from Strawberry Hill which
was case 21 in the 2007/08 Report has been allocated
temporarily to Temple Newsam, Leeds. It has been
requested for the forthcoming exhibition on Horace
Walpole’s Strawberry Hill which is to be held in late 2009
at the Yale Centre for British Art and in Spring 2010 at
the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Iranian Qajar Enamelled Gold bowl which was case 25 in
the 2007/08 Report has been allocated to the Ashmolean
Museum, in accordance with the wish of the offeror.
Japanese Edo-Period Helmet which was case 28 in the
2007/08 Report has been allocated to the Victoria and
Albert Museum, in accordance with the wish of the offeror.
Paul Henry’s Achill Landscape which was case 32 in the
2007/08 Report has been allocated to Tate in accordance
with the wish of the offeror.
Appendix 5
The process of making an offer
Since the report of the Acceptance in Lieu Panel is
generally consulted by those wishing to offer heritage
objects in lieu of tax or by their professional advisers,
we repeat here the section from previous AIL Reports,
appropriately updated, which describes in detail the process
of making an offer and also the criteria which we use in
deciding whether an object is appropriate. We apologise
for using the inelegant phrase ‘heritage object’ but it is
a convenient catch-all to cover the very wide range of
objects that are offered: paintings, furniture, silver, jewellery,
archives and innumerable other items. Offers of land
or buildings may be considered separately.
The legislation under which heritage objects and land
can be accepted in lieu is contained in Sections 230 and
231 of the Inheritance Tax Act (IHTA) 1984, which was
originally enacted as the Capital Transfer Tax Act 1984.
The Inland Revenue published the official guidance to this
legislation, Capital Taxation and the National Heritage
[IR67] in 1986. The legislation permits the acceptance
in lieu of:
• land and buildings
• objects which are or have been in certain buildings and
• objects which are individually pre-eminent or form a
pre-eminent group or collection.
Offers in lieu of heritage objects are made to HM Revenue
& Customs (HMRC) and the Secretary of State’s approval
is required. Both HMRC and the relevant ministers in
England and the devolved administrations seek advice
on offers from the Acceptance in Lieu Panel, which is
an independent body set up in 1992 by the Museums
& Galleries Commission, the predecessor of the Museums,
Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). The Panel consists
of eleven members who are all experts in some particular
field. One of them is selected as a representative of the
Historic Houses Association and at least one is chosen for
having links with Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland as a
representative for museums and galleries outside England.
Offers in lieu can be made whenever a person is liable
to pay either Inheritance Tax or Estate Duty. This usually
occurs when someone dies, but liability may arise on a
transfer of property during someone’s lifetime or out of
settled property. It can also arise when someone sells or
disposes of objects or other property which immediately
beforehand were conditionally exempt from Inheritance
Tax or Estate Duty. (The legislation does not authorise
acceptance of heritage property or objects in lieu of
Income, Capital Gains, Corporation or any other taxes.)
After considering the alternative methods of paying the
resultant tax, the owner may select one or more heritage
objects to offer in lieu and then assess their value together
with an appropriate professional adviser. The Acceptance
in Lieu Panel is willing to assist offerors in these early
stages in deciding what might be the most appropriate
object or objects to offer. Consultation with the Panel at
this point has proved to be useful as it can avoid problems
caused by the offer of unsuitable objects.
Once a decision has been made on what is to be put
forward for acceptance in lieu, the offeror or an agent
contacts the Heritage Team of HMRC with details of the
proposed offer. The address and telephone number is:
Heritage Team
HM Revenue & Customs
Ferrers House, PO Box 38
Castle Meadow Road
Nottingham NG2 1BB
Tel: 0845 30 20 900
If HMRC agrees that the offer is competent to proceed, i.e.
that the offeror is the person responsible for the payment
of the tax and that there is a liability to taxation which
could be met by the offer of such a heritage object or
objects, the case is referred to the AIL Panel.
The Panel meets once a month, with interim ad hoc
meetings if required, to decide whether objects offered
appear to be pre-eminent. Wherever possible some or
all of the members of the Panel view the object.
Criteria for pre-eminence
Objects are regarded as pre-eminent if they would
constitute a ‘pre-eminent’ addition to the collection of a
national, local authority, university or other independent
museum or are ‘pre-eminent’ in association with a
particular building. The criteria for pre-eminence are based
on the long established ‘Waverley criteria’. These are used
to assess the importance of objects which have been
referred to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of
Works of Art.
AIL criteria
The criteria are:
• that the object has an especially close association with
our history and national life
• that it is of especial artistic or art-historical interest
• that it is of especial importance for the study of some
particular branch of art, learning or history
• that it has an especially close association with a
particular historic setting.
The Panel interprets these criteria with some freedom,
while maintaining rigorous standards of excellence.
An object needs to meet only one of the criteria in order
to qualify as pre-eminent.
Under the first criterion we would typically include objects
closely associated with historic personages or events or,
for instance, with British political, cultural or religious
movements. This criterion typically covers portraits and
archives associated with some well-known historic figure.
However, it might be extended to embrace, for instance,
a collection of classical antiquities which illustrate the
importance of the Grand Tour to the formation of national
taste in the 18th century; a group of objects brought back
from the travels of a famous Victorian explorer or designs
relating to the Festival of Britain in 1951. We do not
interpret this criterion solely in terms of national history
nor do we adopt an elitist approach to what is important
for history. The criterion might therefore extend to cover
an archive, which is important for an understanding
of the history of a region, and views of towns, houses
or landscapes or portraits of local worthies, which are
significant in a regional context, even if they are not great
works of art and are not of national significance. We feel
that it is important to give due weight to items the impact
and resonance of which are primarily regional.
The second criterion embraces not only the works of
great masters, but also painting and sculpture by artists
who were important in their day and made a significant
contribution to the artistic life of their times even if
they were not international figures. We do not limit
our recommendations to the works of such artists as
Gainsborough, Turner, Bacon and the most notable foreign
painters, but we think that it is right that we should also
recommend acceptance of paintings by, for instance,
artists who are key figures of a local school. This criterion
also applies to outstanding examples of decorative or
applied art.
The third criterion covers archives, good samples of the
work of local potteries or furniture manufacture, notable
examples of the costume or embroidery of previous
centuries, objects which, although not important in
themselves, form part of a collection that is important – the
complete library of an 18th century botanist, for instance,
or a collection of medieval antiquities that includes ‘Gothic’
objects deliberately faked to attract enthusiasts for the
age of Ivanhoe – and non-British works of art which
illustrate the history, culture and taste of other countries
or civilisations. It would also cover important engineering
plans and models, key examples of design and technology
and scientific apparatus, although we have not yet
completed any offers of such objects.
The criterion for association with a particular setting
embraces not only objects currently in a historic building
but those which may have been removed from it as a result
of sale, inheritance or gift and are being returned to their
original setting.
Association with a building
Open market price
Under the legislation, anything may be accepted when
“it appears to the Ministers desirable for the object to
remain associated with a building.” The building concerned,
however, must be owned either by the government or
by a heritage organisation, such as the National Trust.
The price at which the object is offered should represent
the open market price at the time of the offer. Where
the open market price is based on a recent saleroom
comparison, we include the buyer’s premium with the
hammer price. If comparable objects have been sold
at auction or by known private sales through dealers or
agents, it is not too difficult to agree the price. In cases,
however, where nothing similar has been sold in recent
years, because of the rarity of the object, its exceptional
beauty or its historical associations, it may be harder to
assess what it might have fetched at auction. An artist may
have produced only a few great works, all concentrated
in one brief part of his career, and it may be that none
of these paintings has been sold on the open market for
many years. In such circumstances, a comparison with
recent sales of inferior works from the artist’s oeuvre
might well result in a false valuation. The value of works
by contemporaries may form a better basis for assessing
the correct price.
The wording of the legislation is so all-embracing that
it could cover an electric cooker in the kitchen or a
wheelbarrow in the potting shed. Objects associated
with a building do not themselves have to be pre-eminent
but the Panel takes account of their contribution to the
history of the place and to its atmosphere. Furniture
and china in a historic house need not be of museum
quality to be worthy of acceptance in lieu but should
be attractive and appropriate to their setting. There is
a general understanding that, in order to qualify, the
objects must have been associated with the property
for a number of years or with a person who lived there
for a significant period.
Expert advice
The Panel always seeks independent advice. Two or more
Expert Advisers are appointed in each case, generally
museum curators or scholars in the field and members of
the art trade. These experts examine the object, assess its
condition and provide written reports to the Panel, advising
whether the object meets any of the criteria listed above,
whether its condition is appropriate for museum ownership
and whether the price at which it is offered represents the
open market price. In the light of this advice and of the
collective knowledge of its members the Panel then
makes a recommendation to MLA. When the object is
offered from a non-English estate or is offered with an
allocation to an non-English museum or repository, the
recommendation is made to the Scottish, Welsh or
Northern Irish minister, as appropriate. Unfortunately,
this increases the time involved in finalizing an offer.
It is hoped that the handling of such cases can be brought
in line with those made in England.
When heritage objects are offered which, although
interesting, are not pre-eminent or are in poor condition
and would need substantial conservation, the Panel may
suggest to the offeror that some other object from the
same collection might be substituted. Where an object is
substituted at the Panel’s request, it is treated for taxation
purposes as if it had been part of the original offer.
The Panel spends a great deal of time testing the Expert
Advisers’ opinions on price and strives to be scrupulously
fair to the offeror. We are not seeking to extract a bargain
on behalf of the nation but to arrive at a fair price. On a
small number of occasions, however, we have been unable
to reach an agreement with the offeror’s agents and have
therefore had to tell the Secretary of State that we could
not recommend acceptance of the offer.
We emphasise our wish to be fair. When the Expert
Advisers consider that an object has been offered at a
valuation below the open market price, we ask the offeror’s
agent if they wish to revise the price upward. On some
occasions, of course, the offeror may be aware that the
offer is below the open market price but is content that the
value of the object covers the tax liability and is generously
willing to forego any benefit from the higher market price
which might have been agreed. In other cases, where the
agreed value more than covers the tax that is payable, the
museum or gallery has to pay the offeror the difference
between the tax liability and the tax that could have been
settled by an item at the agreed open market value.
The latter are termed “hybrid arrangements”.
Provenance
As a result of the growing awareness of the looting carried
out under the Nazi regime, the provenance of all objects
for the period 1933 to 1945 is thoroughly investigated.
In the case of chattels from historic British collections this
is, of course, no problem. Where, however, the ownership
history of objects is not documented, in particular in the
case of paintings by foreign artists, it is necessary to make
detailed enquiries so as to ensure that objects which were
either looted or sold as a result of duress are not acquired
on behalf of the nation. This is inevitably a slow process,
but it is important to ensure that all possible steps have
been taken to investigate the whereabouts of objects
offered for the relevant period. A similarly rigorous
investigation is undertaken in respect of the offer of
archaeological items. The provenance has to be fully
established to prevent the acquisition of objects which
have been improperly excavated or illegally imported into
this country.
When an offer is made without any condition or wish,
the object is also advertised on the MLA website and
the Panel then makes a recommendation to MLA on
the basis of interest expressed. In the case of archives,
the Historical Manuscripts Commissioner and Chief
Executive of The National Archives advises on allocation.
We are keen to broaden the range of museums and
galleries benefiting from the scheme. We therefore
encourage curators throughout the country to watch
the MLA website so that they are aware of what may be
available and to make applications for objects which they
consider appropriate for their collections. They must be
aware, of course, that they will not always get what they
would like if there is competition for the same object.
Some curators have been cultivating relations with
potential offerors for many years. When these efforts
have resulted in the object having been on display in the
museum or gallery, or on deposit in an archive repository
during the owner’s lifetime, it is only right that such
arrangements should, normally, continue undisturbed.
Allocation
Objects can be offered without any conditions, but
many offerors are concerned about the future destination
of things that they have loved and make their offers
conditional upon allocation to a particular museum, gallery,
library or archive. If MLA, on behalf of the Minister, agrees
that the institution named in the condition is an appropriate
recipient, then the object is transferred to that location
when the due process has been completed.
Alternatively, the offer can be made with a wish, which
is not binding on MLA or the appropriate Minister in
Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, that the object should
be allocated to a particular institution. When an object has
only been offered with a wish, its availability is advertised
on the MLA website (www.mla.gov.uk) and in the
Museums Journal and, after considering the responses
received, the Panel advises MLA whether the nominated
location is in fact appropriate. In most cases the offeror’s
wishes are complied with but if, for instance, a similar
object is already in the nominated gallery, whereas it is not
represented in another equally suitable institution, or if the
nominated gallery is unable to provide suitable access, we
may recommend that the object should be allocated
elsewhere. In all cases, the ability of the museum or gallery
to provide adequate and safe display is an essential
condition for being considered an appropriate location.
In situ offers
Time involved
On numerous occasions over many years, owners of
objects on loan to houses belonging to the National Trust
have offered pictures and furniture with a condition
that they should remain in situ. By an extension of this
process, it is possible for an offeror to make an offer of
the important contents of a historic house which is not
in public ownership. If these chattels are judged to be
pre-eminent, they can remain in situ on condition that
provision for adequate access is agreed and that security
and conservation arrangements are accepted as
satisfactory. In these cases, the ownership of the object
or the contents of certain rooms is transferred to a suitable
museum or gallery and the owner of the house then
enters into a loan agreement with the institution so that
the chattels can remain in their historic location. This
is an excellent arrangement whereby groups of particular
importance can be kept together for the benefit of visitors.
The processes involved in an offer in lieu are, inevitably,
time consuming. After HMRC has passed a case to MLA,
these processes include the Panel’s initial consideration,
the appointment of Expert Advisers, the visits of the
Advisers to see the object and their work in assessing
the price, the Panel’s subsequent review of the case, the
agreement of the price with the offerors and their agents,
the recommendation to MLA, its decision and the final
agreements on allocation. Where in situ cases are involved,
it is also necessary to seek conservation and security
reports and to agree loan and public access arrangements
between the museum to which the object has been
allocated and the owner of the property in which it is being
retained. The Panel does all it can to minimise delays but,
where the nation is foregoing large sums of tax, proper
procedures must be observed in assessing the objects
on offer.
Recent cases have demonstrated that difficulties can arise
where there is a reluctance by public institutions to take
on ownership and care of in situ objects. As a result, the
AIL Panel has recommended and HMRC and DCMS have
accepted that anyone making an in situ offer must have
identified an institution which is willing in principle to take
ownership of the items on offer before they are referred
to the Panel.
The loan agreement is a complex document, involving
as it does both the public and the private sectors in a long
term contract. It is widely felt that the existing standard
agreement is unwieldy and efforts are currently being
made by a small working party to produce a more ‘user
friendly’ document.
At present there are in situ arrangements covering
paintings at Arundel Castle, Dodington Hall, Floors Castle,
Holkham Hall, Norton Conyers, Port Eliot, Sledmere
House, Highclere Castle and Cawdor Castle, sculpture
at Castle Howard and Mellerstain, furniture at Newburgh
Priory, furniture and sculpture at Hagley Hall, furniture and
tapestries at Houghton Hall, and furniture and paintings
at Corsham Court and Longleat.
Benefits to the offeror
Conditional exemption
There are several benefits to the offeror who makes an
offer in lieu to settle an Inheritance Tax liability instead
of simply writing out a cheque.
The Panel also advises HMRC on new cases of
conditional exemption, that is, on heritage objects on which
Inheritance Tax is deferred provided that adequate public
access is given. In the year 2008-09 we advised on 14
cases. The process is similar to that in respect of Offers
in Lieu. Owners with potential Inheritance Tax liabilities
send a list of the objects which they consider to be eligible
for Conditional exemption from the tax, along with images
and a statement as to why they believe them to be preeminent. Cases are referred to the Panel by HM Revenue
& Customs in the first instance. The Panel then selects
appropriate expert advisers for each class of object and,
having considered their reports, informs the Revenue
whether it considers that the object or, more usually,
objects, meet the criteria as set out in the Inheritance
Act 1984, as amended in the Finance Act 1998.
Offerors are able to apply a higher portion of the value
of an object to satisfy a tax liability if they offer the object
in lieu than if they sell the same object at auction. This is
because of the special price or ‘douceur’ which is available
in cases of offers in lieu. If, for example, in order to settle
a tax liability, a taxable estate sells an object valued at
£100,000 on the open market, Inheritance Tax is generally
payable at a rate of 40 per cent (i.e. £40,000) and the
estate only receives a net sum of £60,000. If, however,
the same object is offered in lieu, 25 per cent of the tax
that would have been payable (i.e. £10,000, being 25 per
cent of the £40,000 tax payable) is remitted to the estate,
with the result that the object has a tax settlement value
of £70,000. An object is, therefore, worth 17 per cent
more if it is offered in lieu of tax than if it is sold on the
open market at the same price. This constitutes a
significant benefit.
In fact, the benefit may be greater than this. The open
market value assessed by the Panel is the hammer price
plus the buyer’s premium which is currently as high as
25 per cent. When an object is sold at auction the vendor
does not, of course, receive the buyer’s premium. An AIL
offer thus gives a major benefit compared to sale at auction.
It is worth bearing in mind that, while a sale at auction
may produce an exceptional price, such a result cannot
be guaranteed and, after the sale, tax and interest due
to HM Revenue & Customs must be paid. However, in an
AIL transaction the price is fixed with certainty and interest
ceases to accrue from the day on which the offer is made.
Furthermore, the agent’s fees to an estate for negotiating
an in lieu transaction may well be less than the seller’s
commission and publicity costs incurred for sale at auction.
The Panel has to be satisfied that the object or collection
or group of objects is pre-eminent for its national,
scientific, historic or artistic interest and, may take account
of any significant association with a particular place when
this is relevant. In considering whether an object is of
national interest. The Panel takes account of an interest
within any part of the United Kingdom.
Owners may also seek exemption for objects on the
grounds that they are historically associated with a
particular building of architectural significance. In such
cases, English Heritage advises the HMRC and makes
periodic checks on the exempted objects in their setting.
The Panel does not make recommendations to the
Revenue on the requirements for public display of
exempted objects.
There are further attractive, although intangible, benefits.
Many owners like to think that objects which may have
been in their families for centuries can remain in the UK
and they welcome the opportunity of having a say in their
allocation. Where an object is offered in situ, it can still
remain an integral part of a collection, even though
ownership will have changed.
Funding for hybrid arrangements
Sometimes the object that is offered in lieu has a
substantially higher value than the offeror’s tax liability.
In these ‘hybrid’ situations, as mentioned above, the
museum, gallery or archive that wishes to acquire the
object has to pay the difference between the open market
value and the tax liability.
A typical example of a hybrid arrangement occurred in
2003 when the Trustees of the Sutherland Estates
offered a Titian to the Nation in lieu of Inheritance Tax
with the condition that it should be allocated to the
National Galleries of Scotland. The acceptance of this
important painting could have settled up to £14m of tax.
As the actual liability was only £2.4m the balance of
the price was met by a combination of a major grant
of £7.6m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £0.5m from
The Art Fund and a Special Grant of £2.5m from the
Scottish Executive. The National Galleries of Scotland
was itself able to raise £1.0m.
The value of the most outstanding works of art has risen
so sharply in recent years that a major painting may be
worth in excess of £40m. The tax liability of deceased
estates is, however, generally well below such a sum. In
consequence, if a really important painting is offered in
lieu, it will involve a “hybrid” arrangement. If, for example,
a Picasso is valued at £40m, with a rate of Inheritance
Tax of 40 per cent, the acceptance of the painting could
settle up to £28m of tax. An inheritance tax liability on the
scale of £28m is, however, very rare, given the scope for
tax planning that currently exists.
Even if the liability of the offering estate were to be as
high as £10m, this would still leave the acquiring gallery
with the need to raise £18m (£28m - £10m) to secure
the painting. This sum is far beyond the purchase grant
or acquisition reserves of any UK institution. It is, therefore,
highly desirable that additional funds should be made
available either through the Heritage Lottery Fund
or National Heritage Memorial Fund to help such
acquisitions. These sources, should, if necessary,
be supplemented by special government grants.
The Waverley Report, half a century ago, at a time of far
greater financial stringency, specifically predicted the
need for exceptional Treasury grants to support the
acquisition of exceptional items which were threatened
with export from this country. The Land Fund was the
alternative. Since then, the Land Fund has been dissolved
and the National Heritage Memorial Fund created to act
as the fund of last resort for the protection of the UK’s
heritage. Its effectiveness has, however, been seriously
compromised by the inadequate level of funding that it
has received in the last few years. Although its grant
from Government will be maintained at £10m until 2011,
it will not be in a position to assist in more than a handful
of cases each year and at the highest levels of the art
market, a year’s grant of £10m is insufficient to provide
the UK with the financial strength to compete in the
world market.
Leading strategically, we promote best
practice in museums, libraries and
archives, to inspire innovative, integrated
and sustainable services for all.
Museums, Libraries
and Archives Council
Wellcome Wolfson Building
Grosvenor House
14 Bennetts Hill
Birmingham B2 5RS
T: 0121 345 7300
E: [email protected]
www.mla.gov.uk
For further information on the
Acceptance in Lieu Scheme
contact MLA’s Acquisition, Export
and Loans Unit on 020 7273 1456
or the Chief Executive’s Office
on 020 7273 1476.
© MLA 2009
Registered Charity No: 1079666
ISBN 978-1-905867-31-8
Printed on 75% recycled paper
Design: red-stone.com
AEL020909

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