British citizens have raised £8 million to save Edouard Manet‘s “Portrait of Fanny Claus” from leaving the country. The painting was originally sold last year to a foreign buyer, but the government placed and export bar on the work and therein made its sale available to British public institutions. Donations were made by over 1,000 members of the public , and were combined with £5.9 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £850,000 from The Art Fund to reach the £7.83 million needed to purchase the work for the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Read the article via The Independent