The UK culture minister has delayed issuing an export licence on Rembrandt’s Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet (1657), which has been in the UK for over 250 years but was recently sold to a foreign buyer for £35m. The painting is particularly popular with the public because Hooghsaet, a wealthy Amsterdam woman, is shown with her pet parrot—who was named in her will—not her estranged husband.
Earlier this year, the Rembrandt was sold by the Douglas-Pennant family, whose home is Penrhyn Castle, a National Trust mansion in north Wales. The portrait had hung there since 1860. It was lent in 2006 to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which considered buying it for around £40m, but failed to raise the funds. The recent private sale was arranged by Sotheby’s and the foreign buyer remains anonymous.
When the portrait by Rembrandt sold earlier this year, it was a record price for the artist. However, three weeks ago, in an unusual move, the Rijksmuseum and the Louvre in Paris agreed jointly to buy a pair of Rembrandt portraits of Maerten Soolmans and his wife Oopjen Coppit (1634) from the Eric de Rothschild collection, for €160m for the pair.
On Friday, 16 October, culture minister Ed Vaizey deferred an export licence for the portrait of Hooghsaet until 15 February 2016, to enable a UK buyer to match the price. The Art Fund, which helps with acquisitions, is in informal talks with several museums, including the National Gallery. However, the £35m price-tag makes it difficult for any UK museum to raise the funds. A similarly expensive painting by Picasso, Child with a Dove (1901), was deferred in 2012, but a UK buyer could not match its £50m sale price, and it left the country, reportedly destined for Qatar.
