Image: Fra Angelico Crucifixion (c) 2023 Christie's Images Ltd
The museum has more than £1m left to raise before an export bar is lifted in October
The Ashmolean Museum is continuing its fundraising efforts as it seeks to acquire a 1400s crucifixion painting for almost £5m.
The painting by the Renaissance Master Fra Angelico dates to the 1420s, and has been barred from export since the beginning of the year while a domestic buyer is found.
‘The Crucifixion’ has been in a private British collection for over 200 years and is valued at over £5 million for the open market. The Museum has until 29 October to raise £4.4m to buy the painting in a private treaty sale.
So far, over £3.1 million has been secured, including lead donations from major donors, a circle of over 25 supporters and a significant grant from Art Fund, with several grant applications pending.
The Crucifixion is one of the earliest surviving panel paintings by Fra Angelico and the earliest version of the subject he was to return to again and again throughout his career. It was discovered in a private UK collection and attributed to the master in the 1990s.
Dr Xa Sturgis CBE, Director of the Ashmolean, says: ‘This is an unrepeatable chance to save a powerfully engaging painting by one of the great painters of the Florentine Renaissance for the public.
“We are immensely grateful to all of those who have helped us make such a positive start to our campaign and sincerely hope that others will join us to secure this beautiful and moving work.”
On the announcement of the temporary export bar, member of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, Christopher Baker said the artwork was “an extraordinary rarity that assists with our understanding of a formative period in the artist’s career”.
“Its appeal also extends far beyond such scholarship because of its numinous beauty.”
