4 days ago
Objection to overseas sale of Highland Council's '£2.5m' artwork
An objection has been raised against a Scottish council-owned artwork being sold to an overseas marble bust of Highland landowner Sir John Gordon was made by French artist Edmé Bouchardon in 1728 and has been valued to be worth £ Council, which owns the sculpture, has proposed selling it to raise funds for the community of Invergordon, a town named after the Gordon a new report said the local authority's application for a UK export licence, which is needed in case of an overseas sale, had been opposed and the licence bid was now under review.
Invergordon Town Council bought the sculpture for £5 in 1930, but it was later placed in storage at an industrial estate and its value was not widely appreciated until recent years.
A hearing of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest was held last month after the objection was new Highland Council report said: "The committee is assessing whether the bust meets any of the three Waverley Criteria and whether the export licence should be deferred."The council is currently awaiting the outcome of this review, and members will be updated in due course."The Waverley Criteria is a set of measures used to determine whether an artwork is a national treasure and if any sale to an overseas buyer would be considered a "misfortune".It is designed to give institutions, such as museums and galleries, a chance to purchase the council report is due to be discussed at a meeting of the Black Isle and Easter Ross area committee next week.
The son of a banker, Sir John Gordon's family owned large areas of land in Sutherland and Ross-shire and established the town of Invergordon on the Cromarty was a young man travelling through continental Europe when he met Bouchardon in Rome in 1728 and the sculpture was became an MP in years the bust was a feature of the Gordon family's Invergordon Castle, and survived a fire at the property in the 19th local town council bought the artwork for £5 at an auction in Kindeace, near Invergordon, in is understood the bust was to be put on display in Invergordon Town Hall, before it was later moved to storage and almost relating to the piece are thought to have been disposed of during local government reorganisation in the 1970s and 90s, according Rob Gibson, speaking to BBC Scotland News in 2014 when he was a local Smith, a Highland councillor, said she rediscovered the bust in said it was found propping open a door in a Highland Council unit on an industrial estate in Balintore, about 14 miles from Council describes the sculpture as a community asset belonging to Invergordon Common Good Scotland, common good funds go back to the 15th Century and involve land, investments and property that exist under law for the benefit of burgh residents.
