Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has placed a temporary export bar on a highly significant work of art to provide a last chance to raise the money to keep it in the UK.
The Minister’s ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the painting is so closely connected with our history and national life that its departure would be a misfortune; that it is of outstanding aesthetic importance; and of outstanding significance for the study of Poussin and the study of the history of western art. The Committee awarded a starred rating to the painting meaning that every possible effort should be made to raise enough money to keep it in the country.