The Art Fund is appealing to the public for money to help Tate Britain acquire Turner's The Blue Rigi. The watercolour was sold in the summer to a private collector abroad for a record £5.8 million, but its export has been delayed by the government to allow a gallery in this country time to raise the money to buy it.
Tate needs to find a total of £4.9 million (taking account of tax remission), and has allocated a record £2 million of its own funds towards the price. On 22 January, The Art Fund added £500,000 - one of our largest ever grants - and announced we would run a public appeal with Tate to raise money.
We have until 20 March to raise the remaining £2.4 million. We hope to raise at least £300,000 from the public via this website and by phone and postal donations. If this target is achieved, we believe Tate will be within striking distance of closing the deal.
JMW Turner (1775-1851) is perhaps the greatest painter this country has ever produced, and The Blue Rigi is one of the finest watercolours from an extraordinary period of creativity towards the end of the artist's life. Despite holding the Turner bequest, the national collection at Tate contains none of the finished Swiss watercolours from this period, of which the three Rigis are outstanding examples.
The price is undeniably high - in fact, it's a record for an acquisition by Tate. But there is little chance of Tate ever acquiring another finished Turner watercolour of this stature. Most are already in museums abroad or private collections. The Red Rigi has been in the National Gallery of Art in Melbourne, Australia, since 1947. The Dark Rigi appeared to be within grasp last summer, but the weakness of the export deferral system allowed the owner to withdraw from the sale on the very day The Blue Rigi sold at auction for such a high sum.
There's no question that this country is already rich in its holding of works by Turner. But the great majority of watercolours in the Turner bequest are sketches and preliminary studies, vital for the study by artists and art historians but not in the same league as The Blue Rigi. The Rigi Watercolours exhibition (opening 22 January) will for the first time show the work alongside both its companions and the preparatory material: visit the exhibition and judge for yourself.
For over a hundred years The Art Fund has campaigned to put great works of art into our public collections. Every time, the challenge has been steep, and the price has seemed high. £45,000 to buy Velázquez's 'Rokeby Venus' was widely regarded as outrageous in 1906 - but how many would doubt that this was a great investment?
Turner's Blue Rigi is another truly remarkable work. It is not a piece of art you will walk past without noticing. It is a work which represents the very highest achievement in watercolour by an artist who made the medium his own. As Turner's great champion, John Ruskin, put it: '(These works) will be recognised, in a few more years, as the noblest landscapes ever yet conceived by human intellect.' It should be in Britain's national collection for future generations to enjoy, and you can help us put it there.
Want to see what 24 hours of creative awesomeness look like? Click here.
This news message is supported by The Creative Finder, an online platform for photographers, illustrators, designers, and art directors to promote their portfolios towards new clients and collaborators. Creatives who wish to sign up for an account can save 10% off annual fees with promo code 'designtaxi'.
