Painting’s journey to a secure future thanks to fundraising

In February the National Trust’s Nostell Priory near Wakefield reopened to the public after its winter closure.

Among the many wonderful treasures on display at the venue, visitors are able to enjoy, as they have done for the past 200 years, its star attraction: the 1602 painting The Procession to Calvary by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.

But this vibrant Flemish painting has been on an incredible journey since it was last seen by visitors to Nostell last autumn.

For the first time in its history the painting now belongs to the National Trust following an intensive fundraising campaign to raise £2.7m to prevent it from being sold at auction.

The Art Fund kick-started the campaign it ran jointly with the National Trust in September with a donation of £500,000.

Within three months, including a whistle-stop tour of the National Gallery in London and the York Art Gallery, the target was reached thanks to contributions of over £1m from the National Memorial Heritage Fund and more than £500,000 from trusts and foundations.

However, a huge amount of the funds, £680,000 in total, came from members of the public, many of whom were Art Fund or National Trust members.

But what was it about this painting that made over 10,000 people put their hands in their pockets to keep it in Yorkshire?

It depicts Christ carrying his cross on the way to his crucifixion – certainly a sombre theme – and it includes, in extraordinary detail, many of the characters present at the event according to the gospels, such as the Good and Bad Thief, St Veronica and Simone of Cyrene.

Perhaps what makes this painting so engaging is that it is also set in the lively contemporary Flemish landscape native to the artist, despite the fact that the scene it is depicting, happened, according to the Gospels, on the hills outside Jerusalem.

That the epic events of the crucifixion story are set against this much more familiar backdrop of peasant bystanders and windmills brings context to modern audiences. This is not just symbolic of an ancient Biblical city but it is also something more recognisable – Brussels or Antwerp perhaps. It is a deeply engaging painting and one which it is now assured will be enjoyed by visitors to Nostell Priory for generations to come.

Special Yorkshire Post reader offer: Join the Art Fund before 3 May and receive a free Love Art tote bag. Membership is available from £35 a year. Call 0844 415 4100 quoting MO1102. www.artfund.org  

Work of the Art Fund

The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for works of art. It campaigns, fundraises and gives money to museums and galleries to buy and show art, and runs events and a membership scheme giving members free entry into over 200 museums and galleries across the UK and 50 per cent off entry into major exhibitions.