Vaizey on Van Dyck

Culture tsar Ed Vaizey has gone bananas. He's slapped temporary export bans on two items sold at auction. The first is a cast of Napoleon Bonaparte's death mask, known as the "Boys cast" because it was made for the Rev Richard Boys, Senior Chaplain of St Helena. £175,100 needs to be raised to buy this item (CLICK). The second item is Sir Anthony Van Dyck's magnificent Self-portrait, which sold for the conservative price of £12.5 million. This is undoubtedly a great British treasure. King Charles I held Van Dyck in such high esteem that he awarded him a knighthood, a home and an annuity in 1632 (CLICK).