HC Deb 01 February 1971 vol 810 c277W
Mr. Faulds

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what financial grant the Government intends to provide towards the purchase of the Velasquez portrait of Juan de Pareja, whose retention in Great Britain the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art considers imperative.

Mrs. Thatcher

The Government have considered and refused a request from the National Gallery for a special grant of £2 million for this picture, the great merits of which they fully recognise.