The Bowes Museum in Durham has secured funding to acquire the 15th century painting “St Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child,” attributed to the workshop of Dieric Bouts the Elder. The total of £2,290,650 needed to save the painting for Britain was provided by the Art Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), as well as a number of private donors.“St Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child” is regarded as an important British cultural asset because of its close associations with the leading Early Netherlandish painter Dieric Bouts, and also because of the subject matter. The British government placed an export ban on the painting in November 2015 to allow the opportunity for it to remain in the UK.Adrian Jenkins, Director of The Bowes Museum, said that during the 15th century, Early Netherlandish paintings were admired all over Europe for their visual sophistication, invention, and imagination. “This work exhibits all of those characteristics and we are extremely pleased to have secured its long term future in the UK,” he said.
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