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.


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De Morgan Foundation goes digital with new initiative to attract a wider audience for artists work

20 August 2019

The De Morgan Foundation is launching a series of initiatives to bring the works of Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919) and her husband William (1839-1917) to a wider audience.

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St Agatha returns to Osterley Park after nearly ninety years away

17 August 2019

A painting of the early Christian martyr St Agatha by Italian artist Carlo Dolci (1616-87) will return to Osterley Park and House in Middlesex where it once hung.

‘View on the River Seine – Morning’ by Richard Parkes Bonington

National Gallery acquires Richard Parkes Bonington painting in £600,000 tax deal

15 August 2019

A view of the River Seine by Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-28) has entered the collection of The National Gallery in London under the acceptance in lieu scheme.

Art Fund awards boost collecting cash at museums

12 August 2019

A curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum in York and an assistant curator of ceramics at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent are among the winners of the Art Fund’s latest annual New Collecting Awards.

Museum curators win funding to bolster collections including antique coins, ceramics and works on paper

07 August 2019

A curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum in York and an assistant curator of ceramics at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent are among the winners of theArt Fund’s latest annual New Collecting Awards.

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Call for fundraising to keep £10m Turner painting in the UK

02 August 2019

A JMW Turner landscape valued at £10m will be exported overseas unless funding can be raised to keep it in the UK.

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Pictures by St Ives artist Peter Lanyon head to Tate, Birmingham and Liverpool museums

31 July 2019

The estate of Cornish artist Peter Lanyon’s (1918-64) widow, Sheila Lanyon, has agreed a tax deal allowing three pictures by the artist to be acquired by the nation for museums across the country.

Dickens

Charles Dickens 'lost portrait' saved for the nation

23 July 2019

A fundraising campaign has helped save a portrait of Charles Dickens (1812-70) rediscovered by dealer Philip Mould.

'Walton Bridges' by JMW Turner

Turner’s Walton Bridges heads to Norwich Castle after being saved for the nation

19 July 2019

JMW Turner’s oil painting ‘Walton Bridges’ which sold at Sotheby’s in July last year has been bought for the nation after funding was secured by Norfolk Museums Service.

Jane Austen letter

Museum appeals for final £10,000 to secure Jane Austen handwritten letter

19 July 2019

Jane Austen's House Museum in Hampshire has launched an appeal to raise the remaining funds needed to buy a fragment of a letter written by the great novelist in 1814.

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Palace of Versailles buys back €4m rococo commode from US collector

15 July 2019

A Louis XV period rococo commode made in 1744 for the Château de Versailles has returned home after more than 30 years out of France.

Chippendale

Victoria and Albert Museum acquires Chippendale's Harewood House pier tables and mirrors for the nation

18 June 2019

A set of pier tables and mirrors from the Thomas Chippendale workshop has been accepted in lieu for the nation and allocated to the Victoria & Albert Museum.

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Burne-Jones sketches head to Delaware museum via Cambridge

17 June 2019

Two studies by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones for his 1868 oil Hymenaeus will soon be reunited with the finished painting.

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Getty museum buys Stoss crucifix and Joseph Wright of Derby painting

11 June 2019

The J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has emerged as the buyer of two major works: Corpus Christi, a small, 15th century wooden sculpture by Veit Stoss, and Two Boys with a Bladder (1769-70), a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby.

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Hogarth painting saved for the nation and can stay at its Leicester museum home

31 May 2019

A William Hogarth (1697-1764) painting that has been on loan to the New Walk Museum & Art Gallery in Leicester since 1943 has been purchased for the gallery.

Suggs

Madness donates costumes and memorabilia to Victoria and Albert Museum for theatre gallery

23 May 2019

To celebrate 40 years since the release of Madness’ ‘One Step Beyond’ - the 1979 debut album by the British ska-pop group - the V&A has unveiled a collection of memorabilia.

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Getty Museum snaps up ancient gems cache at Christie’s New York

13 May 2019

The Getty Museum has emerged as the mystery buyer of close to half of a collection of ancient engraved gems sold by Christie’s New York.

Michael Ayrton

Jerwood Collection buys Michael Ayrton picture from Hertfordshire council auction at Cheffins

10 May 2019

The Jerwood Collection of Modern British art has emerged as the buyer of ‘Encounter No 1’, an oil painting by Michael Ayrton (1921-75). After selling at the recent auction it will now go on public view.

Solomon Alexander Hart watercolour

Early depiction of a British synagogue interior by first Jewish member of the Royal Academy sells to Ben Uri Gallery at auction

03 May 2019

A watercolour by Solomon Alexander Hart (1806-1881), the first Jewish member of the Royal Academy, drew dramatic competition at Tennants’ latest sale in North Yorkshire.

Joseph Gott’s Greyhound with Puppies

Birmingham gallery acquires marble sculpture with support from Tomasso Brothers

02 May 2019

UK dealership Tomasso Brothers Fine Art has helped a Birmingham gallery to acquire a 19th century sculpture by the ‘Landseer of marble’.

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