£1bn needed to save nation's finest paintings

The Government is being urged to set up a £1 billion emergency art fund to ensure the 25 most prestigious paintings in Britain do not leave the country.

Campaigners led by former arts minister Lord Howarth have called for a list of works, deemed invaluable to the nation, to be drawn up to protect them from overseas buyers if they are put up for auction.

Specialist art magazine-Apollo has drawn up a list of what it believes are the 25 most important Old Masters in private ownership.

They include Titian's Portrait Of A Man and Holbein's Portrait Of Erasmus and have a combined-value of more than £1billion.

Campaigners say action is required as most are owned by aristocratic families, who may be forced to sell if their estates are threatened by taxation or stock market crashes.