4th November 2011
Culture Minister defers export of rare marble sculpture of Venus by John Nost the Elder
Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, has placed a temporary export bar on a sculpture by John Nost the Elder, The Crouching Venus. This will provide a last chance to raise the money to keep the sculpture in the United Kingdom.
The Minister’s ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, administered by Arts Council England. The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the sculpture is of outstanding significance for the study of English sculpture in the 18th century.
The white marble sculpture dates from 1702 and depicts the nude goddess Venus with her arms crossed, head turned to the right and half kneeling on a rectangular base. The figure is based on an antique prototype known as The Crouching Venus and may have been modelled on an antique work in the Royal Collection. It is a rare surviving example of a classical subject in marble carved by the Netherlandish sculptor John Nost the Elder (d. 1710) working in England.
Lord Inglewood, Chairman of the Reviewing Committee, said: “This impressive and compelling figure of the goddess Venus is an important example of one of the earliest versions in England of an antiquity in marble, made for a British client.”
The decision on the export licence application for the sculpture was initially set for the period ending on 3 January 2012 inclusive. This period has been extended until 3 May 2012 inclusive due to a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase the sculpture at the recommended price of £485,000 (plus VAT, amount to be confirmed, which can be reclaimed by most public institutions).
Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the sculpture should contact the owner’s agent through: The Secretary, The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, Arts Council England, 14 Great Peter Street, London, SW1P 3NQ, 020 7973 5259.
Anyone interested in making a matching offer who requires further information from the Champion about the sculpture should contact The Secretary to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest at the above address.
(The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by Arts Council England, which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria. Where the Committee finds that an object meets one or more of the criteria, it will normally recommend that the decision on the export licence application should be deferred for a specified period. An offer may then be made from within the United Kingdom at or above the recommended fair market price.)