Bolton council has withdrawn a painting by Victorian landscape artist Alfred Heaton Cooper from auction following criticism by the Museums Association (MA) ethics committee.
Corrie Village, Arran (1896) was one of 36 artworks from Bolton Museum earmarked for sale to raise £500,000 for a new storage facility.
The council previously argued that the work could be auctioned because the artist was born in Manchester and the painting does not depict a scene of Bolton.
But the sale was cancelled after the ethics committee expressed concern that, as Heaton Cooper grew up in Bolton, the painting did not fall outside the museum’s core collection.
A council spokesman said: “On balance, we concluded that Corrie Village, Arran should be retained by Bolton Museum due to strong local links with the artist.”
The MA’s head of policy and communications, Maurice Davies, said: “This is a welcome and speedy response by Bolton council, but the committee made several other points that Bolton needs to address.”
The ethics committee has recommended that a full public consultation into the planned sell-off is undertaken, to meet the requirements of the code of ethics.
Corrie Village, Arran (1896) was one of 36 artworks from Bolton Museum earmarked for sale to raise £500,000 for a new storage facility.
The council previously argued that the work could be auctioned because the artist was born in Manchester and the painting does not depict a scene of Bolton.
But the sale was cancelled after the ethics committee expressed concern that, as Heaton Cooper grew up in Bolton, the painting did not fall outside the museum’s core collection.
A council spokesman said: “On balance, we concluded that Corrie Village, Arran should be retained by Bolton Museum due to strong local links with the artist.”
The MA’s head of policy and communications, Maurice Davies, said: “This is a welcome and speedy response by Bolton council, but the committee made several other points that Bolton needs to address.”
The ethics committee has recommended that a full public consultation into the planned sell-off is undertaken, to meet the requirements of the code of ethics.
