TATE SEEKS CASH TO KEEP TURNER WATERCOLOR IN BRITAIN

Tate Britain has launched a campaign to keep J. M. W. Turner’s The Blue Rigi, ca. 1845, in Britain, reports The Guardian. The museum must raise £4.95 million ($9,689,405) to purchase the work, which fetched a record price for a watercolor by the artist at a Christie’s auction last June. It was purchased by an overseas bidder, but the government deferred the work’s export license to allow time for a British buyer to come forward with the funds. The Tate has until March 20 to do so. The work will be on view at Tate Britain from January 25 to March 22. It will be shown alongside two companion pieces, The Red Rigi and The Dark Rigi_, which were painted at roughly the same time and which capture Mount Rigi, seen from Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, at different times of day.