HL Deb 02 December 1964 vol 261 cc1095-7

3.0 p.m.

LORD AMULREE

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the criteria required before a grant is made by the Treasury to the Trustees of a national gallery or museum to assist in the purchase of a picture or other work of art.]

LORD RHODES

My Lords, the circumstances in which successive Governments have felt able to ask Parliament to agree to special grants, over and above the ordinary annual purchase grants, for important purchases for the national art collections, have varied a good deal from case to case. In some cases the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art have recommended the withholding of an export licence and the making of a special grant for a work which they regard as important to the national heritage. In the case of certain recent purchases by the National Gallery the effect on the collection of the agreement with the Republic of Ireland on the Lane pictures has been taken into account. In every case, however, Her Majesty's Government rely primarily on the advice of the Trustee body concerned, supported by such evidence as the Trustees care to submit, as to the artistic importance of the object and its value for the national collections. I am sure noble Lords would agree that this is the right course and that there would be serious difficulty about regarding these questions of artistic judgment as a ministerial responsibility.

It is, however, a great help to Ministers if there is a contribution from one of the great Trusts or from some other generous private donor, since this is an independent endorsement of the importance of the object. On the financial side, the Treasury must, of course, be satisfied that the Trustees cannot reasonably he expected to find the whole cost out of their ordinary resources, and they invariably require that a considerable contribution should be made from such resources towards the cost of a purchase for which a special grant is given.

LORD AMULREE

My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord for the full reply which he has given me. If I may ask a supplementary question, it is this. I trust that the Treasury and the Trustees of the Gallery will bear in mind that there are considerable gaps in the Collection, and I hope that one day the Government will be able to fill them. I wonder whether the noble Lord would be able to bear that in mind.

LORD RHODES

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that supplementary question; because the reason that I included the little bit about the Lane Collection was particularly directed at that point.

BARONESS SUMMERSKILL

My Lords, as eminent artists say that there can be no objective criteria by which to judge the value of any work of art, could the noble Lord tell us whose subjective criteria led to the purchase of the latest acquisition?

LORD RHODES

My Lords, yes, I think there was a general desirability that it should be acquired. The gap caused by the export of the Lane Collection meant that it was desirable that we should acquire an example of the French artists. That was why it was purchased. With regard to the question which is implied about the price paid, I would remind the noble Lady that the price paid was reckoned to be a fair market price at the time.