Wanted, your help to buy £4m ‘Monarch’
THE public are to be asked to help buy a Scottish painting and save it for the nation.
The Monarch Of The Glen by Sir Edwin Landseer had been set for auction after drinks giant Diageo put it up for sale for the first time in 100 years.
The painting has been on show in Edinburgh for 17 years through a deal with Diageo.
Following protests from the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the Scottish Government, which insisted the painting should remain in Scotland, the company agreed to sell the painting to NGS for a discounted price of £4 million.
Landseer’s depiction of a stag in front of a Highland scene could fetch up to £10 million if put up for auction.
NGS said it has managed to secure some of the funding privately, but it is struggling to meet the full asking price.
With the March 16 deadline to acquire the painting looming, NGS is considering launching a public appeal next month to fill the funding gap. Sir John Leighton, director general of NGS, said: ‘What we’re doing at the moment is very much behind the scenes. We’re trying to get a platform or base and we will see where we are in and around mid-late January. I would imagine we will come out with an announcement saying we have so much pledged and what we still need to raise. That is when we would go public with an appeal.’
Bosses also said they were wary of asking for handouts during the festive season.