Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reasons the portrait of Oliver Porter by Sir Anthony van Dyck donated to the nation by the Duke of Northumberland is hung in Bowes Museum; and what discussions were held on hanging that portrait in a museum which is free to the public.

Individuals donating work to the nation through the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) Scheme, administered by the Arts Council, can specify which institution will receive it. In the case of the Portrait of Oliver Porter by Sir Anthony van Dyck, it was made a condition of the offer that the painting be allocated to the Bowes Museum. The painting is a significant acquisition for the North-East and will feature in the Bowes Museum’s forthcoming major exhibition, The English Rose – Feminine Beauty from Van Dyck to Sargent, which opens in May 2016.