QMA Deceit

It turns out that Sandy Nairne's effusive thanks to the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) for the five-year loan of William Hoare's painting of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (1733) to the National Portrait Gallery was misplaced. The work may have been borrowed for five years, but it has been lost to the nation forever. QMA had no intention of selling the painting, but kept quiet while NPG wasted time on a pointless fundraising campaign. That was deceitful. Only when the money was collected did QMA reveal the truth: no sale. And there appears to be nothing we can do about it. The export ban cannot be made permanent. The owner cannot be forced to sell. So an historically important British work of art is lost. The BBC's new Arts Editor Will Gompertz reveals the truth in a short video (title link). Although he is completely insensitive to the visual arts - he asserts that Sir Anthony Caro's scarlet mess Early One Morning (1962) is "one of my favourite artworks in the entire world" (CLICK if you don't believe me) -, he is good at interviewing people, especially doolally folk who claim to be artists.