15/10/2001

The UK arts ministry has placed a temporary bar on the export of an Italian mannerist drawing, Study for the Institution of the Eucharist, by Federico Barocci (1535-1612). Regarded by the British government’s "Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art" to be one of the artist’s "most imposing and impressive works on paper", the drawing has been given a value of $ 1.95 million (€ 2.1 million). Interested parties with a view to buying the work have a deadline until the 11th of December 2001 to put in offers, although this may be postponed until March 2002. The drawing is a recognised modello for Barocci’s painting, The Institution of the Eucharist, which dates from 1608 and which was recently lent to the Genius of Rome exhibition at the Royal Academy, London by the church of the Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. (Andrew Moore)