Masterpieces by such artists as John Constable, Sir Henry Raeburn, Van Dyck and Barbara Hepworth do not come on the open market very often, and when they do, it is usually beyond the financial means of our public galleries to buy them in competition with well-heeled collectors from around the world.
Masterpieces by such artists as John Constable, Sir Henry Raeburn, Van Dyck and Barbara Hepworth do not come on the open market very often, and when they do, it is usually beyond the financial means of our public galleries to buy them in competition with well-heeled collectors from around the world. And yet they now hang in the National Galleries of Scotland, due to a very cultural wrinkle in the UK's otherwise prosaic tax laws.
Perhaps a tip of the hat is worth giving to the Acceptance in Lieu scheme. Managed not in Scotland but through the Arts Council of England, the scheme enables those due a hefty amount of inheritance tax, to offset some or all of what is due by donating valuable art to the nation. In its present guise, it was instituted by the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, after the People's Budget of 1909.
If these works of art could not be donated to public galleries across the UK, they would likely be sold at auction, and lost to the public gaze, and even to these islands completely.
Today, a fine Raeburn portrait is now, for the first time, available permanently to the Scottish public, the result of this practical and, at the same time, enlightened, fiscal arrangement.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article