Rare Baldassare Peruzzi nativity painting saved for UK

as ‘Christmas gift’
theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/24/rare-baldassare-peruzzi-nativity-painting-saved-uk-christmas-gift

Harriet Sherwood December 24, 2022

Work created more than 500 years ago will go on display in Northern Ireland next year
after export ban

The painting is being restored in the National Gallery in London. Photograph: The
National Gallery Photographic Department/The National Gallery
The painting is being restored in the National Gallery in London. Photograph: The
National Gallery Photographic Department/The National Gallery

A rare painting of the nativity created more than 500 years ago by Baldassare Peruzzi
has been saved by the government as a “Christmas gift for the nation” after an export ban
was imposed.

The Nativity, the only work by Peruzzi in the UK, will go on display in Northern Ireland
next year. It was acquired by National Museums NI after funds were raised to buy the
work from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Department for Communities
NI and the Esme Mitchell Trust.

The painting, valued at £277,990, had an export bar placed on it last year by the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Cultural items considered too important
to leave the UK may be placed under an export bar.

The DCMS said at the time: “An extraordinarily rare painting depicting the nativity is at
risk of leaving the country unless a UK buyer can be found to save the work for the
nation.”

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 Peruzzi depicted his nativity scene at night. Photograph: The
National Gallery

The Nativity was painted around 1515 by Peruzzi, one of the leading figures in art in
Rome in the first decades of the 16th century who worked alongside Raphael and Donato
Bramante. He was an architect, theatre designer, painter and draughtsman.

Most of Peruzzi’s paintings were in fresco and have been lost to history. The Nativity is
one of only a handful of works outside Italy.

The painting is undergoing conservation work at the National Gallery in London before
moving to its permanent home at the Ulster Museum in Belfast in 2023.

Peruzzi depicted his nativity scene at night. Its “nocturnal setting is most striking …
Peruzzi’s use of dark tonalities for a work on this intimate scale was unusual, daring
even,” the Arts Council said.

Stephen Parkinson, the arts and heritage minister, said: “For many, being part of a nativity
play is one of the first ways that we learn the story of Christmas. That is why I am
delighted that, this Christmas Eve, we can announce that this incredible painting of that

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famous event has been saved for the nation thanks to the export bar system.”

Simon Thurley, the chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, said the painting was
“an incredibly important artwork” and its acquisition was “a fantastic Christmas present for
art lovers, and for Northern Ireland in particular”.

Jenny Waldman, the director of the Art Fund, said: “This is an extraordinary, and
beautiful, work of art. We are delighted that … a painting by Peruzzi will now enter a
public UK collection for the first time.”

The National Heritage Memorial Fund contributed £99,990 to the cost of the artwork. The
Art Fund gave £100,000, the Department for Communities NI contributed £70,000, and
Esme Mitchell Trust gave £8,000.

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