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David Starkey Leads Tate's Rubens Campaign

by Zoe Strimpel
Sun, 8 Jun 2008 at 10:06 PM

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Popular historian David Starkey has given his high-profile name to a campaign to keep a rare and beautiful Rubens sketch in England. It was for the ceiling of the Banqueting House in Whitehall and is considered a national treasure. The Tate has been trying to raise £6 million ($11.8 million) to pay for it by the end of July, and there was some consternation last month when members were asked to pay a bonus to help raise the cash.

The sketch is worth £11 million ($21.7 million), but thanks to tax concessions it could belong to the national museum for half the price. Only problem is that so far, only £1.56 million ($3.1 million) has been raised — £500,000 ($985,000) of it from the Art Fund and £300,000 ($591,000) from Tate members.

"This work is of the utmost significance to British history," Mr. Starkey was quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph. "The Banqueting House ceiling is the most important painting set within an architectural context in England and this sketch is the key to its composition. The loss of the sketch would be a fundamental betrayal of our national heritage and it is inconceivable that it move from Britain," he said.

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