Bullied by Ian Cox to jump off the fence, I suppose I must make at least some comment on The Titian issue. He is generally accepted as one of the great painters of his time.
1. How many of Titian’s works are there in public and private ownership in Great Britain and permanently on view to the public?
2. From the educational and tourist points of view is it important to buy them? (In other words are they a good cultural and commercial investment?)
Of course there are other points here to think about after you have cast your pound coin in the collecting box. (Euros, Dollars, etc welcome too I imagine).
1. Do you really like the painting? (Do you really think it is very good?)
2. Do you have any spare cash?
3. Do you know how much “Old Art” is sitting in store rooms and rarely seen?
4. Do you like “New Art”, not contemporary Art as in The Turner Prize, but stuff you can understand and really appreciate and enjoy?
5. Do you think we should fund more English Art for English Galleries, Welsh for Welsh, Scottish for Scottish, Irish for Irish?
One more from me is the problem of the second painting involved. It is much better work. The Art market is by most accounts beginning to feel the pinch too, so I think it may be a bad time for the estate to sell at auction, if he does we might get the second painting for a reasonably price. They are not fools; they have made buying the first conditional for buying the second!
Yes I have made a humble contribution but I will not loose any sleep if we do not reach the demanded price. There are plenty of other great works we could buy and perhaps even commission some decent sculpture which we can all understand and appreciate.
If you are wonering what I am talking about then see here!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7584902.stm
Did Titian really paint those things?
I’ve got a problem with both of them — they look worse than many of the tapestries I’ve been seeing lately.
It looks Tom was asked to paint one figure, while Dick and Harry did some of the others.
If I owned them, I would cut them up to get the best parts, and sell the rest to a museum in Indiana.
But I can’t afford them – so let the Duke put them on the open market make what he can from them.
Meanwhile –save that 100 mil and spend it on some good 20th figure sculpture. It would definitely buy the best collection of that period in the world — and then some.