More about Mentmore

Huon Mallalieu

Recently Sotheby's have been Criticised, notably by the editor of Connoisseur, for their role in the projected disposal of the Rothschild collections at Mentmore. It is implied that, by acting as agents for the sale, they are somehow to be blamed for the inevitable loss to the cultural heritage of the nation. This is rather like blaming midwives for overpopulation.

While as individuals the members of a firm of auctioneers may be as concerned— or as unconcerned—as the rest of the population with the fate of national treasures, as a professional organisation their priority must always be the good of their client. Despite anomalies such as the imposition of the buyer's premium and Sotheby's agreement to act as advisers to the artbuying activities of the British Rail Pension Fund, this is a matter of law as of common sense, and it must always remain the case. When the interest of the client and the wider national interest can be reconciled, by the arrangement of private treaty sales of part or all of a collection to a museum and the negotiation of tax concessions, then the auctioneers will work to this end. In other cases they must never sacrifice their client to any other consideration.

Much more disturbing than the sight of a firm going about its legitimate business is the impenetrable obscurity which envelops the government side of the negotiations. While Lord Donaldson's silence may stand in worthy contrast to the way in which his predecessor in office was prepared to issue frequent and often ill-judged statements on almost every subject, there is a time to break silence. The Government has had, one presumes, the best part of three years to study the problem. Surely something more practical than an eleventh-hour appeal for private funds should have come out of this period of consideration. This is a case in which 'open government' might have proved of great value, not only because private funds to save the more important pieces might well have been forthcoming had the threat been widely known at an earlier date, but also because a knowledge of the criteria on which the decision was based would have been of cardinal importance to all those who will be concerned in future cases of this kind.

Just as it is the duty of Sotheby's to do well by Lord Rosebery, so is it the duty of the Government to do well by the public.

On behalf of the public the Government has refused to pay a sum of less than £2 million for the house and contents. The result will probably be that the leading museums of the country will have to find some £3,045,000 to buy just fifteen sets or pieces of furniture and five paintings.

These figures are taken from a pamphlet published by Save Britain's Heritage, a group founded early in 1975 to arouse concern about the continuing destruction of historic buildings and collections. It is under the chairmanship of Marcus Binney, and it produces convincing evidence for the inadequacy of the accepted ideas of en vironmental planning, as well as strong arguments for the use, rather than abuse, of our cultural assets. On Save's showing, Mentmore could certainly be made to pay its way if used as an annexe of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Once again, the figures on which the Government based its decision have not been made public.

Over the last eighteen months or so there has been a series of highly important house sales throughout the British Isles.

Swinton House and Stonor Park, Cullen House and the Castle Grant armouries, Blair Drummond, Balmanno Castle, Malahide Castle, Whitechurch, Newtown Park House, Clonbrook and Moyglare House. Between them these sales brought well over £2 million.

The most relevant of these to the problems raised by Mentmore is Malahide Castle. Not only were the castle and

grounds of Irish national importance— they were bought by the Dublin Council—

but they also housed a collection of por traits of great historical interest. Thirty of these were acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland for a nominal £7,500 before the sale as part of a deal on death duties. One

other had been overlooked, and the Gallery had to spend a further £9,500 to buy It at the sale. The British generally resent the thought that they might have something to learn from the Irish, but the policies of the Irish government concerning the arts and the heritage, although by no means perfect, stand in very favourable contrast to those of our own.

On the credit side it must be noted that the Government did negotiate the purchase of the Castle Grant armouries from the Seafield family. These included Scottish seventeenth-century sporting guns and pistols and were reckoned to comprise the second most important collection in the country remaining in private hands. The sum was not disclosed, but Christie's, wh° handled the sale, estimated that the collection would have been worth £600,000 °I1 the open market. Also, as a result of recent improvements in the matter of tax eon' cessions, the National Gallery has been able to acquire a Rembrandt, a Velasquez and the splendid Van Dyck from Althorpe, These are cases in which the Government must be congratulated. But they are verY small gains when placed against the possible loss of Mentmore. Even if the sale should be stopped at this late hour, the affair must be seen as one of official bungling and shortsightedness. It is not Sotheby's who de" serve condemnation, but the public wh,° deserve commiseration, because they haven t, got an agent of similar experience an

expertise to represent their interests.

Bryan Robertson, our Arts Editor, writes:

As we go to press, a letter has appeared in The Times (16 March) jointly signed by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, President of the Victorian Society, and the Duke of Grafton on behalf of the Civic Trust and all the other protect" ive societies that exist to guide the Govern, ment. In this letter, the Government is urgeu to accept the offer from the National Trust to hold Mentmore, as proposed by the Director-General of the National Trust in a letter to The Times printed the day bef°re' There have been constructive views v1g01: ously expressed by Mr Brinsley Fora' chairman of the National Art Collections Fund, and Mr Denis Mahon. The Government must heed the urgent advice of the experts and act at once. allow Mentmore to go under the hammer would be a gross act of socio-political hypocrisy. Paxton's architecture and the collections at Mentmore are of spectacular importance. Students from technical anleges or art schools studying architecture, furniture design or art would benefit ; fromm e ns e abroad s tsupde ni eds a mt onnt ms oinr e EVnigsland

annually because of our great houses an" collections made public. Can anyone

Me Malraux allowing a house and collection in France like Mentmore to be broken whatever the depths the French econorny had plumbed ? England seems to be Olen with lemmings, hellbent on self-annihilation.