An important Cézanne landscape view of the Mediterranean, which has been on public view in Cambridge for nearly 30 years, is in danger of leaving the UK unless more than £13.5m can be raised.
The British government on Monday placed a temporary export bar on Cézanne’s Vue sur L’Estaque et le Château d’If.
Purchased by the industrialist Samuel Courtauld in 1936 and passed down through his family, it was on long-term loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum from 1985 until last year when a decision was taken to sell it.
That sale took place at Christie’s in February where, as one of the highlights of its impressionist and modern art evening sale, it sold to an anonymous overseas buyer for £13,522,500.
The minister for culture, Ed Vaizey, said “this quietly beautiful painting” had adorned the walls of the Fitzwilliam “where it has been enjoyed by countless visitors”.
Vaizey said: “I hope that the temporary export bar I have put in place will result in a UK buyer coming forward and that the painting will soon be back on the walls of one of our great public collections.”
The bay of L’Estaque, a small fishing village next to Marseilles, was one of Cézanne’s favourite subjects, and one he returned to time and again. While there are 35 Cézanne paintings in British museum and gallery collections, there are no views of L’Estaque.
The recommendation to government was made by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, on the grounds of the painting’s “outstanding aesthetic importance”.
Committee member Aidan Weston-Lewis said the view from L’Estaque “inspired some of his [Cézanne’s] most ground-breaking pictures” of the 1870s and 1880s.
“This is a rare opportunity to fill a significant gap in the UK’s otherwise impressive holdings of Cézanne’s work.”
The decision on whether to grant an export licence was deferred until 21 December and could be deferred for a further six months if a serious attempt to raise the funds is made.
