Britpack artists campaign to save the £50m Titian

BRITAIN'S leading artists will deliver a letter to the Prime Minister today in a bid to save a £50 million Renaissance painting for the nation.

Titian's Diana And Actaeon is being sold by its owner the Duke of Sutherland, who has given the National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland until the end of the year to raise the £50 million asking price or see the painting sold abroad for more.

Another painting by Titian, Diana and Callisto, will be sold in four years unless a further £50million is raised by the national galleries by then.

In an attempt to bolster the campaign to save the works, Tracey Emin will deliver a letter to Downing Street signed by 40 of Britain's leading artists, among them Lucian Freud and David Hockney. Others to have signed it include Damien Hirst, Bridget Riley, Sir Peter Blake, Rachel Whiteread, Frank Auerbach and Anthony Gormley.

Experts have suggested each Titian could fetch as much as £150 million on the open market.

Diana And Actaeon is on display at the National Gallery with its sequel Death of Actaeon, having before been on show at the National Gallery of Scotland since 1945. The two paintings had not previously been seen side by side for 200 years.

The campaign to save it has become a huge cause célèbre, with leading figures in the art world arguing that Britain's cultural heritage must be protected.

But at a time of financial austerity, there has been concern over whether taxpayers should be funding the purchase of two paintings costing £100 million with the proceeds going to one of the country's largest landowners.

The artists' letter states: "The paintings, which are among the finest works in private hands in the world, have been in Britain for more than two centuries and on continuous public view at the National Gallery of Scotland since the collection was placed there in 1945, inspiring generations of visitors.

"The high reputation currently being enjoyed by British art, both at home and abroad, depends on the extraordinary quality and depth of our national collections, which have always been, and remain, a constant stimulus to contemporary artists.

"We also believe that in challenging times the heritage of the past and the art of the present are more important than ever."

Lucian Freud recently called the two paintings "simply the most beautiful pictures in the world". Titian was already in his seventies when he painted the 16th-century masterpieces for Philip II of Spain. They are currently part of the Duke's Bridgewater Collection of 27 works by old masters.