Museum acquisitions
Museums often acquire works through donations but, in spite of funding constraints, they also make purchases to expand their collections, either bidding at auctions, negotiating private treaty sales or, in the UK, via the Acceptance in Lieu scheme.
![Topolski Tate Sim Fine Art](/media/7768/topolski-2252dd-19-07-16.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462557250000000)
Tate buys expressionist oil painting from dealer Andrew Sim
19 July 2016Sim Fine Art have sold their first ever painting to the Tate who have added it to their permanent collection.
![Olympia interior](/media/7653/olympia-interior-2250dd-04-07-16.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462557210000000)
Fair play: Key numbers and sales at the Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia 2016
04 July 2016More than 25,160 visitors attended the 44th annual Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia which concluded its seven day run yesterday.
![Jean de Cambrai figures](/media/7526/christies-marble-figures-2247nedia-24-06-16.jpg?rxy=0.5,0.27666666666666667&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462557170000000)
Louvre buys duc de Berry’s tomb mourners at Paris auction
24 June 2016Two finely carved marble figures of mourners from the tomb of Jean de France, the duc de Berry (1340-1416) brother of King Charles V of France were secured by the Louvre for €4.4m (£3.67m) at Christie’s Paris last week.
![At Handeck by Alexandre Calame](/media/7308/alexandre-calame-national-gallery-2243ne08a-18-05-16.jpg?rxy=0.93650793650793651,0.35333333333333333&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462557060000000)
Leading collector of romantic landscapes donates two works to the National Gallery in London
18 May 2016Two landscapes by 19th century European artists have been donated to the National Gallery by Asbjørn Lunde, an American of Norwegian extraction who is one of the world’s top collectors in the field.
![Middle-earth map annotated by Tolkien and Baynes](/media/7270/tolkien-map-2241ne02a-60-05-16.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462557040000000)
Tolkien's Middle-earth map bought by the Bodleian
09 May 2016Oxford’s Bodleian Library has acquired a map of Middle-earth annotated by JRR Tolkien (1892-1973).
![Eugène Delacroix portrait of George Sand](/media/7233/delacroix-portrait-of-george-sand-2239ne06a-21-04-16.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462557030000000)
Musée Delacroix buys portrait of George Sand at Fontainebleau auction
21 April 2016A portrait by Eugène Delacroix redolent with associations to Nineteenth century French Romanticism has been secured by the Paris museum dedicated to his work.
![Edgar Degas drawing acquired by Pallant House Gallery](/media/7226/pallant-house-edgar-degas-2238ne02a-18-04-16.jpg?rxy=0.41025641025641024,0.38&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462557020000000)
Pallant House Gallery acquire Degas drawing in deal brokered by Sotheby’s
18 April 2016A large drawing by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) which has never been exhibited before has gone on display at Pallant House Gallery after being acquired by the Chichester gallery via the Acceptance in Lieu scheme.
Fireplace returned to Cliffe Castle
29 February 2016A Russian malachite and ormolu chimney went on show last week at the museum at Cliffe Castle in Keighley more than half a century after it left the property.
![16-01-19-2225NE01A East Bristol Auctions.jpg](/media/6577/16-01-19-2225ne01a-east-bristol-auctions.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462556860000000)
Monkey business – Swiss museum buys automaton at Bristol auction
19 January 2016A museum in Switzerland has acquired this extraordinary monkey band automaton at an online-only auction conducted by East Bristol Auctions, in Hanham, Bristol.
Restituted gold ornaments go on show in China
13 August 2015A group of 32 ancient gold ornaments have been returned to China following claims they had been illegally removed.
![2203NE02 wedgwood CUTOUT PLEASE.jpg](/media/1381/2203ne02-wedgwood-cutout-please.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558010000000)
Wedgwood Collection on display after £34m Barlaston museum redevelopment
10 August 2015The Wedgwood Collection has gone back on public display now a £34m museum redevelopment is complete.
![15-08-07-2204AM06A Charles Napier Hemy.jpg](/media/1120/15-08-07-2204am06a-charles-napier-hemy.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558010000000)
Provincial museums purchase prize paintings
07 August 2015A large marine painting by Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) showing oyster fishing off the Exmoor coast has been bought by The Museum of Somerset.
![15-06-08-2195NE05A Christopher Dresser.jpg](/media/1314/15-06-08-2195ne05a-christopher-dresser.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558080000000)
Saved from a skip, Ault pattern book on display at DresserFest
08 June 2015A previously unpublished book of ceramic designs that could shed new light on the work of Dr Christopher Dresser goes on public view for the first time during a three-day festival celebrating the life and work of the Victorian designer.
![15-06-05-2196AM05A turner oxford.jpg](/media/1317/15-06-05-2196am05a-turner-oxford.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558090000000)
Ashmolean launches campaign to secure Turner’s view of Oxford
05 June 2015The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has launched a public campaign to raise the funds needed to secure JMW Turner's The High Street, Oxford.
![15-04-21-2188NE03D Charles Dickens desk.jpg](/media/1342/15-04-21-2188ne03d-charles-dickens-desk.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558100000000)
Museum acquires Dickens’ desk
21 April 2015The writing desk and chair used by Charles Dickens as he penned a number of his later classics have been bought by a museum based at the author’s former central London home.
![15-04-09-2186NE05A Sekhemka Egyptian statue.jpg](/media/1176/15-04-09-2186ne05a-sekhemka-egyptian-statue.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558100000000)
New blacklist threat for deaccessioning museums
09 April 2015A fresh warning has gone out to UK museums and galleries that they could face future funding cuts if they sell items from their collections.
![15-02-24-2180NE04A Eric Ravilious.jpg](/media/1215/15-02-24-2180ne04a-eric-ravilious.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558170000000)
Dulwich pays tribute to Ravilious as Jerwood turns spotlight on Burra
24 February 2015Dulwich Picture Gallery have announced a major exhibition dedicated to Eric Ravilious (1903-42) from April 1 until August 31.
![15-02-18-2179NE04A Wolsey Angels.jpg](/media/1228/15-02-18-2179ne04a-wolsey-angels.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558180000000)
Syndicate deal frees Wolsey Angels for sale
18 February 2015The parties caught in a conundrum over proper title to two of the recently rediscovered Wolsey Angels have formed an extraordinary syndicate to resolve the issue.
![15-02-16-2179NE03A Rothschild bronzes.jpg](/media/1223/15-02-16-2179ne03a-rothschild-bronzes.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558180000000)
Michelangelo claim: there’s more to come say Fitzwilliam
16 February 2015The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge have promised to reveal more evidence backing the attribution to Michelangelo of a pair of bronze figures of two nude males riding panthers.
![15-02-13-2179IE01extra Peppiatt O'Leary.jpg](/media/1230/15-02-13-2179ie01extra-peppiatt-oleary.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=131462558180000000)
Rivals raise the stakes over South African art
13 February 2015Bonhams throw down the gauntlet at Irma Stern Museum after Strauss & Co's China Girl TV stunt
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