(DCMS) Government scheme returns Gainsborough landscape to Norwich

A major landscape painting by one of England's most important painters is to become part of Norwich Castle Museum's permanent collection, Barbara Follett, Minister for Culture and for the East of England, announced today.

Thomas Gainsborough's landscape, 'Open Landscape with Milkmaid and Cows, Donkeys, Plough Team and Church, Farmhouse and Barn among Trees', has been accepted in lieu of inheritance tax as part of the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme (AIL) which is administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) on behalf of the government.

Barbara Follett, Minister for Culture and for the East of England said:

"I am very pleased to present this beautiful painting by Gainsborough to the Castle Museum. I am glad that the people of today, and those of the future, will be able to enjoy it thanks to the Government's innovative tax scheme. This is helping regional museums like the Castle, grow their collections by rewarding philanthropy and, at the same time, enriching local heritage."

The AIL scheme enables items deemed to be of historical or artistic importance to be given in place of inheritance tax, with items then given to museums and galleries throughout the UK. The acceptance of the Gainsborough painting satisfied £700,000 of tax liability.

The painting has been permanently allocated to the Castle Museum, Norwich, in accordance with the condition attached to the offer.

This landscape oil painting dates to the late 1750s, at the end of the artist's time in Ipswich. It was commissioned by an East Anglian patron and has passed down through the family over the generations.