UK Try To Save Breughel For Brits

Written by Daniel Gales Monday, 06 December 2010 23:03

LONDON - The National Trust and The Art Fund are combining to try and save an Old Master painting by Pieter Breughel the Younger which has hung in Nostell Priory in Yorkshire for over 200 years. Art lovers are being asked to help raise more than £1 million to ensure that the 17th-century masterpiece stays on public view. Supporters of the campaign have raised almost £1.4 million already but need to make £2.7 million by Christmas. The Procession to Calvary is the star attraction at the National Trust-run 18th century stately home, where it is part of a collection including paintings by Hogarth and Kauffmann . The appeal was launched in September by the Art Fund and the National Trust. The 1602 work shows Christ carrying the cross on the way to his crucifixion. The list of institutions taking part includes the mighty and the modest and will be receiving a nod of approval from Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his colleague Ed Vaizey for having entrepreneurial gumption and for responding to the minister's call to embed philanthropy into the mindset of all publicly-funded arts bodies."To see this masterpiece at Nostell – where it has resided for more than two centuries – is a very special experience. We hope that the public will join us and the Art Fund to raise the money we need to ensure that the Brueghel stays at Nostell forever" says Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of the National Trust.

The painting, which is owned by Lord St Oswald, has been put up for sale and it is feared it could be bought for a private collection. To kickstart the campaign The Art Fund has contributed £500,000 to the appeal to save the painting, which was on temporary display to the public at London's National Gallery from October 5 - November 9, and then at the York Art Gallery from November 18 until this Christmas. It is hoped that the remaining £2.2 million can be raised by Christmas to secure the remarkable painting’s future. Visitors to the two galleries will see one of Brueghel the Younger's finest works. Completed in 1602, it depicts Christ carrying the cross on the way to his crucifixion surrounded by more than 200 figures. The vibrant Flemish narrative includes an amazing array of carefully-observed individual portraits including religious figures, peasants, children, animals, gentry and soldiers.

Fiona Reynolds, Director-General of the National Trust, said: “We are delighted that the fundraising appeal to save this wonderful painting is approaching £1.4 million and our thanks go to everyone who has supported it so far. But we have some way to go and we hope many more people can help us to reach our target to keep ‘The Procession to Calvary’ at Nostell Priory where it belongs.”

Art Fund director Stephen Deuchar said: "This remarkable painting has really captured the hearts of many of the UK public, helping us to come a long way in only two months. But we're just over half way with a significant sum still to raise - we urge as many as possible to double their donations through The Big Give and help us secure the painting for Nostell in time for Christmas." This appeal could start in the UK an Age of Philanthropy, brought about by the new coalition government and its vision of a "big society".

The government wants this period of lottery-funded success to continue and is increasing the amount of lottery money going to the arts, but it believes an age of philanthropy will help ensure the sector's long-term success by spreading its reliance across more than one income stream. Philanthropy in the arts is not new, the world has always been made up of people who make art and others who pay for it - but the scale of the notion of private giving is new. The government wants this new arts age to have just as much "take" from the general public as has been the case in the past decade but now with a bit more "give" to go with it. The ambition is to encourage many more arts consumers to contribute their time and/or money. It appears to be gaining some traction. Big philanthropic gifts have been received by, among others, the British Museum, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Tate Gallery and the National Theatre .

An initiative arranged by Arts And Business called The Big Arts Give will run from 6 – 10 December, the five day challenge will enable donors to double their donations for free if made via The Big Give website www.thebiggive.org.uk/donate/nostell.  and it is a collaboration with The Big Give, a charity founded in 2007 by Alec Reed, who also founded the eponymous recruitment company. The idea behind it is called "match funding".If, say, you donate one pound, The Big Give will match it and in effect double your money: a tried and tested method for successfully encouraging people to dip into their pockets.

The Big Arts Give works on the same principles but is slightly more complicated: it has a limit of £500,000 with which to match donations; once people have exceeded that figure The Big Arts Give can no longer double the money. At that point, another aspect kicks in: the arts institutions that are taking part - there are just under 100 of them - have raised a further £750,000 in pledges from their own donors with which to match any giver's gift. But these are only pledges from the institution's own network of donors, who will not hand over their money until a member of the public does so first. On the Big Arts Give website is published the amount each organization has raised in match-funding pledges and the amount remaining.

‘The Procession to Calvary’ is currently on display at the York Art Gallery where it will remain until Christmas. Donations so far to the appeal have totaled: Art Fund grant of £500,000;  Public donations of £460,000  and Trusts and Foundations £437,000. To discover more about The Procession to Calvary or to make a donation to the appeal, visit www.artfund.org/procession or telephone 0844 415 4004.

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