Temporary Export Ban on Sir Robert Walpole's £6m Watteau
September 2 2024
Picture: gov.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The UK Goverment has placed a temporary export ban on the following picture Le Rêve de L’Artiste, a Watteau which had once been in the collection of the first-ever Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. An interested institution will have to find £6,075,000 (plus VAT of £215,020) to keep the work in the country.
According to the government's website:
Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant said:
This painting was once owned by our first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and was hanging for several years in 10 Downing Street, so Watteau’s Le Rêve de L’Artiste has a fascinating connection to British History, offering us insights into the tastes and development of art in Britain in the 18th century. It portrays the artist’s dream, but perhaps its surreal fantasia inspired political dreams as well. Either way, it is an important and unusual work by a genius.
I hope a UK buyer has the opportunity to purchase this work so it can continue to be studied and enjoyed by the public.”
