Titian campaign
Do you think that taxpayers' money should go towards the fund to buy the Titians for the nation? Andrew Graham-Dixon nailed his colours to the mast last night, arguing that it would be a disaster if we were to lose these paintings, but others in the programme argued that the money could be better spent.
It's just been announced that the National Heritage Memorial Fund has awarded £10 million to The National Galleries of Scotland and the National Gallery, London to buy Diana and Actaeon. Who has Andrew been talking to?
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I think it's disgusting that the titian campaign is asking for £100 million to buy 2 paintings. Tax payers money? I think there are currently more pressing requirements for taxpayers money! Forgetting for a moment that we are in a recession and the government is borrowing 100s of millions to keep the country afloat, I wonder what choice people backing this campaign would make if they were faced with making the decision of keeping the titians for our galleries or saving 10 childrens lives that were dying in front of their very eyes? £100 can save 10 childrens lives in 3rd world countries! Imagine what £100million could do!
I would rather see good copies of the paintings hanging in the galleries and know that millions of people have been saved. Given the choice most of the public would agree! Anyone backing this campaign should be ashamed of themselves and take a long hard look at the world around us. Get your priorities in order!
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Here's a point that doesn't seem to be ever raised:the paintings were bought in 1793 from the collection of the Duc d'Orleans. I've read two different accounts, either that he was selling them in desperation or that they were sold after he was guillotined, in late 1793. Now, I happen to be a fervent admirer of the 1789-94 Revolution and all the hardcore lefties in it, but nevertheless it could be argued that these paintings were acquired in similar circumstances to those once-jewish-owned artworks siezed or looted by the Nazi regime whose ownership and exhibition now causes such controversy. That makes the ethical waters even murkier.
And another point, in these troubled times - if they're sold abroad, the buyer will have to pay many millions in tax, which would be pretty handy at the mo!
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P.S. a couple of years ago, Mervyn Peake's drawings for 'Bleak House' were up for sale - why didn't 'The Nation' buy them? Surely the work of one of our finest illustrators, illustrating one of our finest books, is more culturally relevant than Titian? Why weren't they bought by the British Library? The whole lot would cost less than a cm of a Titian!
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Who are we raising the money for? Who gets this £50m per painting? As Andrew pointed out last night, the Getty Foundation would pay several times that for one of these. What is stopping the 'owner' of these paintings putting them up for auction? Sure, it's a fantastic painting but I'm afraid I'm with most people on here - get a great reproduction of the Titians for a fraction of the price and flog them! Who does own these anyway?
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The Duke of Sutherland and all his progeny are dripping with the blood of the Gaels of Sutherland. The money with which they bought these pictures was aquirred by tyrannic abuse of the workers of Stafford and the people of Strathnaver. We should confiscate them from him in reparation, sell them to the highest bidder, and use the money raised to regenerate and repopulate the desert that he created in Scotland.(People will still be able to see them.) Not a penny of my tax should be given!
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I support the purchase. I do not think the argument about saving lives is relevant. Many billions of pounds are already spent on children and the sick. Many billions are spent annually on weapons too. All in the name of the British taxpayer. These two paintings have a significance to the Arts in Britain that is worth preserving for our nation and our descendants. Like Shakespeare they tells us about the human condition and they have the potential to raise awareness of our duty to care for others and of human rights.
Perhaps enhancing individual awareness of humanitarian values, with the stories these pictures tell, will one day pay dividends in a way that financially supporting Children's Services in Haringey failed to do.
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