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Titian saved 'thanks to £17.5m Scottish Executive pledge'

The sum would enable the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the London-based National Gallery to buy Diana and Actaeon from the 7th Duke of Sutherland.

In August he offered it to them for £50 million - which experts believe is a knock-down-price - on condition they raised the funds by December 31.

The National Gallery is also said to have pledged £12.5 million.

A source close to the deal refused to confirm a deal had been completed, saying negotiations were ongoing. It suggests a deal is close to being struck.

It is not just the future of Diana and Actaeon, painted in the 1550s for King Phillip II of Spain, that hangs in the balance.

Also on the line is a second Titian, Diana and Callisto, that the duke promised to sell for a similar amount in four years if the first goes through.

If both sales proceed the duke has guaranteed that the wider Bridgewater Collection, of which they are a part, will remain on public view at the National Gallery for another 21 years. The collection, which includes three Raphaels and a Rembrandt, has been on loan since 1945...

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)