Export bar as bid starts to keep £29m Raphael in UK

A £29m Raphael drawing which sold for a world record price at auction has been temporarily barred from export in a bid to raise money to keep it in the UK.

By The Newsroom

Published 26th Feb 2010, 21:18 BST

Updated 26th Feb 2010, 21:18 BST

Head of a Muse sold for 29,161,250, including buyer's premium – a world record price for any work on paper to go under the hammer – at Christie's in London in December.

It was the second highest price for an Old Master painting or drawing sold at auction and a world record price for the Italian Renaissance artist.

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has put the export bar on the work after a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

The committee said the work was of "outstanding" aesthetic importance and significance.

London Muse