LONDON — An early Picasso painting, which has been publicly displayed in Britain since 1974, is to be sold at Christie's if no public museum or gallery comes forward and bids on it in the next three months. Though it has become a national treasure, the painting is privately owned by the aristocratic Aberconway family of Wales, which has announced its intention to sell off the work, estimated to be worth a staggering £50 million ($79 million).
Analysts believe that the chances of a UK institution raising the cash to purchase the piece are slim. The logical choice to purchase the work for the country would be the National Gallery, which showed the work from 1974 to 2011 — but that institution's "legacy reserves" were spent on the recent £45 million ($71 million) joint purchase of Titian's "Diana and Callisto" with the National Galleries of Scotland, a masterpiece by the Venetian master that another aristocrat, the Duke of Sutherland, had threatened to sell off to the highest bidder if the nation couldn't raise the cash to stop him.
"Child with a Dove" (1901) was painted by the Spaniard in Paris at the beginning of his "Blue Period," when he was only 19. It pictures a small child holding a white bird to her chest, with a multi-colored ball lying at her feet. "This is a particularly iconic picture," a representative of the Courtauld Gallery told ARTINFO UK. "It's much loved, particularly because of the subject matter of a child with a dove, so it's always been a very popular picture wherever it's been on view. "
The piece has been in the Aberconway family since 1928, when it was bequeathed to Lady of Aberconway Christabel McLaren by legendary British collector Samuel Courtauld. It is currently on show at Tate Britain's "Picasso and Modern British Art" blockbuster exhibition. "It's a really important work for us because it was owned by one of the greatest British collectors of modern art, and it was a really singular picture within his collection," Tate's Helen Little told ARTINFO UK.
Since the piece was publically shown, the current owner was exempt from inheritance tax when he first received the piece, but this tax would become payable if the work was to be sold privately. Under UK regulations, owners in this situation have to publish a notice of intention of sale via the Arts Council England's Acquisitions, Exports, Loans and Collections Unit, and allow three months for national collections to decide whether they are in a position to acquire it.
The Courtauld Gallery would be a natural home for "Child with a Dove," but the organization has no acquisition budget. "We are utterly dependent on people who gift, bequeath, or loan us paintings," said the Courtauld Gallery representative. "We will not be setting up a fund to try and save it."
A version of this story originally appeared at ARTINFO UK.