UK Temporary Export Ban on Fra Angelico

January 9 2024

Image of UK Temporary Export Ban on Fra Angelico

Picture: Christie's

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

Following on swiftly from the previous post, the UK Government has placed a temporary export ban on Fra Angelico's Crucifixion which realised £5,001,000 at Christie's London last July. UK institutions have until 7th April 2024 to help save the artwork for the nation.

According to the above press release:

Committee member Christopher Baker said: 

Fra Angelico was one of the great innovators in the evolution of early 15th-century Florentine art. This profoundly moving devotional work, with its delicate colour harmonies and deeply considered, expressive figures, demonstrates the enduring power of his achievement. It is an extraordinary rarity that assists with our understanding of a formative period in the artist’s career and in the development of Italian Renaissance painting more widely. Its appeal also extends far beyond such scholarship because of its numinous beauty.

Executed in tempera on a wooden panel, the painting retains its original frame and has been in Britain since the early 19th century. It would constitute a major addition to a UK public collection and every effort should be made if possible to acquire it.

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