UK bids to keep famous Turner oil painting at home

LONDON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- An oil painting by the famous English romantic artist JMW Turner will be exported from Britain unless 26 million U.S. dollars can be raised to match a price offered by an overseas buyer.

Arts Minister Michael Ellis placed a temporary export bar Monday on the Turner oil painting "Ehrenbreitstein", in a bid to provide an opportunity to keep it in Britain.

Shown at the Royal Academy in London in 1835, the painting depicts the historic fortress overlooking the Rhine near Koblenz, Germany, dense with historical references to the French Revolutionary Wars which devastated Europe and reshaped the political and cultural landscape.

Arts Minister Ellis said: "This rich, atmospheric painting demonstrates Turner's extraordinary skill depicting light, as well as the close relationship between painting and poetry.

"I very much hope that it can remain in the UK, where it can be admired and appreciated by future generations for many years to come," he said.

Lowell Libson from the committee that recommended the export bar said: "This magnificent and beautifully preserved painting from Turner's maturity demonstrates this great artist's ability to present many layered narratives, historical and emotional, within the context of topography. It is one of Turner's finest works of the period." Enditem