A Titan for temple Newsam? The Earl of Halifax's Titian portrait, now on the market for a reputed 50 million [pounds sterling], seems likely to leave the UK—but it could perhaps find a home in Yorkshire

Apollo, Sept, 2005

It was announced last month that the Earl of Halifax is to sell his Portrait of a Young Man by Titian, which has been on loan to the National Gallery, London, since 1992. This follows unsuccessful negotiations between the Trustees of the Halifax Collection, the National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland, aimed at a joint purchase of the painting by the two galleries.

There has been no public discussion by any of these parties about the painting's valuation, but a sum of 50 million [pounds sterling] has been quoted in the press. This is roughly in line with the $70 million paid by the J. Paul Getty Museum when it acquired Titian's Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos, Marchese del Vasto from the AXA insurance company in 2003, a price that the Louvre--where the painting had been on loan for twelve years--was unwilling to match. However, in the case of the Earl of Halifax's portrait, a private-treaty sale to a national collection would offer the Earl a substantial reduction in the tax payable on the transaction. If a market valuation of around 50 million [pounds sterling] were accepted, then the price in a private-treaty sale would probably be around 17-20 million [pounds sterling]. Even so, such a purchase would require a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which may feel that it has other priorities so soon after contributing 11.5 million [pounds sterling] to the 22 million [pounds sterling] acquisition last year by the National Gallery, London, of Raphaers Madonna of the Pinks from the Duke of Northumberland.

It has not so far been publicly noted that the Titian has a place in a historic British collection open to the public, Temple Newsam House, on the outskirts of Leeds. The future first Earl of Halifax inherited Temple Newsam and its collections from an aunt in 1904. In 1922 he sold the estate to Leeds City Corporation, which converted the house into a museum. The Titian, which remained with the Halifax family, was first mentioned in a Temple Newsam inventory in 1808, and was almost certainly bought in the 1760s by the immensely wealthy Frances, Lady Irwin and her husband, Charles, whose acquisitions included paintings by Rubens and Claude, among others. By the nineteenth century, the Titian was recognised as the clou of the collection, and was greatly admired by Waagen.

As the house's curator, James Lomax, told APOLLO, 'the portrait was at Temple Newsam for 150 years and it would be wonderful if it could be returned to its old home, like so many works of art we have repatriated over many years'. However, he points out that in ten years Temple Newsam has spent just 4 million [pounds sterling] on acquisitions (see APOLLO, June 2004). Help from the Lottery may possibly be more readily available for a major regional collection than for a national institution. If Temple Newsam were to form part of a consortium of museums wishing to buy the painting, it may yet remain in the UK.