Export Ban on Wolfe

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has deferred an export licence for JSC Schaak's painting of General James Wolfe - the general who kicked the French out of Quebec - to allow time for £300,000 to be raised to buy it from its current owner. The ban expires on 8 January, but could be extended until 8 April 2008. Artistically the painting is third rate. Wolfe is portrayed as a skinny chinless wonder grandstanding with a weak go-get'em-lads gesture, hardly stirring stuff. Is this failure to convey heroism worth £300,000 for its historical importance? The National Trust doesn't seem to think so.