The future security of Britain�s most talented arts students is under threat because the arts world is distracted by the high-profile campaign to save two Titian paintings from export, it was claimed yesterday.

The future security of Britain's most talented arts students is under threat because the arts world is distracted by the high-profile campaign to save two Titian paintings from export, it was claimed yesterday.

Sir John Tusa, chairman of the University of the Arts in London and former managing director of the Barbican Arts Centre, and Nigel Carrington, the university's new rector, argue that Britain's cultural landscape relies not just on preserving great art from the past but on nurturing the artists of the future.

The threatened masterpieces were painted by the Venetian Renaissance artist in 1559 and their owner, the Duke of Sutherland, has offered one painting to the National Gallery of Scotland and one to the National Gallery in London for £50m each.

The arts chiefs are happy to see the Titians - Diana and Actaeon and its sister painting Diana and Callisto - remain in Britain if the fundraising effort is successful.

However, they question how the needs of the leading art colleges within their own university can ever compete with the appeal of famous and revered paintings.

Their joint letter to a Sunday newspaper reads: "We would, however, like to issue a warning and a plea to those who are rallying support for the Titian campaign. Please do not forget today's young artists who are embarking on their artistic careers."

The letter goes on to suggest that causes like funding bursaries for poorer students "is often forgotten in the rush to celebrate the established and praise the gilded".

Mr Tusa added that national campaigns to preserve well-loved works like the Titians, though hard fought, can represent the "lazy way out".

He said: "It is a difficult message and not a popular message, but it is important that it is said. This problem is much more complicated than just raising £50m, difficult though that may be in itself. You can't separate the value of the art from the people who make it."

Tusa, who led a recent review of arts policy for David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said it was always easier for a campaign to save a painting to attract the support of the famous A letter signed by 40 of the world's leading artists, including Lucian Freud, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Douglas Gordon and Alison Watt, was delivered to Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week urging him to back the campaign to keep the paintings in the UK. The often-controversial contemporary artist Tracey Emin delivered the letter to 10 Downing Street.

Freud, considered one of the world's greatest living artists, recently overcome years of media shyness in a bid to support the campaign.

Under a loan agreement, the paintings have been on public view in the National Gallery of Scotland as part of the Bridgewater collection since 1945.

John Leighton, its director general, said: "As Sir John Tusa and Nigel Carrington have commented, this isn't an either/or argument. We need great collections of older art as an inspiration and learning tool for the artists of the future. That is why so many living artists have thrown their weight behind the campaign to keep the major masterpieces of the Bridgewater collection in Scotland and to acquire the superlative Titians for the nation."

So far, with a deadline of December 31 looming, only £1m has been publicly pledged to keep the Titian painting hanging in the gallery in Edinburgh.