Govt refuses Blunt painting

Press, 26 July 1984, Page 11

Govt refuses Blunt painting

NZPA-AAP London The British Government had refused a painting worth about 5NZ1,300,000 offered to the nation from the estate of the Queen’s late art adviser, Professor Anthony Blunt, the “Daily Telegraph” has reported. Blunt, who died last year, aged 75, was stripped of a knighthood after being unmasked in 1979 as a Soviet P He bought the painting, “Rebecca at the Well,” by the seventeenth century French artist, Nicholas Poussin, in 1933 for about 5NZ264. It formed the bulk of the value of Blunt’s estate left to his long-time companion, William Gaskin, who offered the painting to the nation in lieu of capital taxes.

No official explanation was offered for the Government’s refusal but its stand appeared to be political, with a number of Ministers involved in the decision. The Louvre Gallery in Paris has now expressed interest in buying the work, although it is more likely to remain in Britain. It was confirmed that the National Art Collections Fund had decided to allocate $NZ264,000 to the Fitzwilliam Gallery at Cambridge University towards the cost of the painting. But even that decision may prove controversial, as it was at Cambridge in the 1930 s that Blunt met the Russian agent, Guy Burgess, and after conversion to communism became a tal-ent-spotter for the Russians.