£20M ART HANDED OVER IN LIEU OF TAX

Hailing a “year of outstanding success” for the acceptance-in-lieu scheme, Junior Culture Minister Margaret Hodge said works by Sir Anthony van Dyck and Thomas Gainsborough were also among items saved for the nation. Under the scheme people can avoid or reduce inheritance tax by giving an important work of art or other heritage object into public ownership.

In the last 12 months Titian’s The Triumph Of Love was allocated to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Tate received Study for Doll Boy, The Berliner and the Bavarian by David Hockney. Ms Hodge said: “2008/09 has, once again, been a year of outstanding success for the scheme. These items will be available for everyone to enjoy for all time.”