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AMERICA AND ART
TREASURES
"Part of the payment of our war
debt to America is being made in
works of art and objects of historic
interest. I suggest that the payment
might be made in something we can
better do without," writes Lieutenant
Commander Kenworthy, R.N., M.P.,
in the "Star." "There is a steady ship
ment of paintings by the great English
masters. Sometimes whole buildings
cross the Atlantic. The latest ex
ample is the historic Broadhembury
Grange in Devonshire. It is to be de
molished and re-erected in the United
States. The Grange is not only one of
the finest remaining examples of Tu
dor architecture, but its carved panel
ling, as Sir Martin Conway has point
ed out, is among the finest examples
of its kind remaining. A couple of
years ago the historic Warwick Priory
was bought by a dealer, demolished,
the stones shipped over to America,
and there re-erected. Nor are citi
zens of the United States the only
ones who pay us the compliment of1
acquiring our native art treasures.
Wealthy Brazilians and Argentinos are
entering the market." Ancient books,
including the first folio editions of our
greatest writers; pictures, genuine
plate armor—a great rarity these days
—are leaving these shores. Fortunate
ly Stonehenge has-been preserved;
and a similar attempt to buy Sulgrave
Manor, the birthplace of George Wash
ington, and ship it to 'God's Own Coun
try* has been frustrated. If it would
really cement Anglo-American friend
ship, I would be prepared to present
America with Sulgrave Manor or any
authentic home of one of the original
Pilgrim Fathers; but I object to a part
of the national patrimony being
bought over our heads and this coun
try being deprived of it for ever, for
commercial gain. Italy is a far poorer i
country, financially, than England; <
and yet we must admit that she is far
richer in works of art. Nevertheless, j
for many years now Italy has had a
law in force prohibiting the export of
certain scheduled art treasures. I sug
gest that some such law is needed for
this country. A law might be passed
giving power to'schedule certain build
ings, pictures, bQjok, and other rare or
artistic objects,rand to prohibit their
sale for shipment abroad. Certain in
dividuals might suffer; but we must
think of the interests of generations
coming after us. We might compro
mise on the breaking-up of the art col
lections of very wealthy dead men by
allowing a payment of part of the
death duties in works of art (for the
national collections) at a fair valua
tion. Nor is there any new principle
in my proposaL- We schedule certain
ancient monuments, historic castles,
and so.-on, and prevent their destruc
tion and removal; so why not do the
same thing for the more portable, but
equally irreplaceable, pictures of
Joshua Reynolds and Turner, the re
maining first folio editions of Shake
speare, and the better examples of Tu
dor and Gothic - art?"
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