HC Deb 23 November 1994 vol 250 c180W
Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what are the terms of the Turner bequest of pictures to the nation; how these are now carried out; and if he will agree to meet the editors of the "Turner Journal".

Mr. Dorrell

The terms of the bequest under which J. M. T. Turner left his pictures to the nation are both complex and, in part, contradictory. Since opening of the Clore gallery in 1987 at the Tate gallery, London, there has been almost general agreement that the main conditions of the bequest have been met. Some of Turner's works are also displayed separately at the National gallery, London.

The display of the bequest is a matter for the trustees of the Tate and National galleries and it would be inappropriate, therefore, for me to meet the editors of the "Turner Journal" to discuss this matter.

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