Scotland’s gamekeepers have made an unexpected entry into the world of art criticism, in particular the debate over the future of one of Scotland's most famous paintings

They have urged the public to ensure the ‘Monarch of the Glen’ stays in Scotland, arguing that the iconic red deer portrayed in the work, is still highly relevant to many Highland communities.

The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) have until Friday to meet the £4m price tag, enabling Sir Edward Landseer’s celebrated 1851 depiction of a stag to remain in public view.

The NGS launched its ‘Help Save The Stag’ campaign last month. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) agreed to support it with a donation of £2.75m and the Art Fund also gifted £350,000. Along with other donations and pledges, this means that the NGS has already raised £3.25m towards the £4m target needed to honour the agreement made with drinks giant Diageo, its present owner.

That deal would see Landseer’s most famous painting acquired for less than half its £10m market value and avoid it being sold on the open market and potentially leaving Scotland.

With days to go the deadline, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) hopes public generosity will tip the funding bid over the finishing line, keeping the work in Edinburgh.

Despite it being painted in the 19th Century, stalkers within the organisation believe the red deer is still highly relevant today, as a symbol of wild Scotland and an economic lifeline for some remote communities.

“I genuinely hope people can help meet the target and the Monarch stays,” said Lea MacNally, a stalker in Glenquoich, west of Invergarry, where Landseer sketched another of his famous works of a tracker dog called ‘Rifler’ laying atop a fallen deer.

“The ‘Monarch’ provokes differing views but what is undeniable is that the sight of a stag in its wild home still stirs something within people today. I regularly see wildlife photographers, with expensive gear, clambering to capture what Landseer was capturing back then, with oil paints.

“In remote communities like this one, deer bring sportsmen and women, and wildlife tourists, to the glen, which keeps the businesses afloat at difficult times of the year, and people in employment. There are always busloads of tourists stopping at a place known locally as ‘Landseer’s Rocks’. It would be a real shame to lose the painting. It is a tribute to an iconic animal which continues to give a lot to the country and especially to the Highlands.”

'The Monarch' has been in private and corporate collections since Landseer completed it in 1851. It has been a key loan to two important exhibitions organised by the NGS: The Discovery of Scotland (1978) and The Monarch of the Glen: Landseer in the Highlands (2005).