Museum refused grants to buy £3.1m Highland artwork

A museum attempting to raise more than £3m to buy an 18th Century sculpture says it has been refused funding.

The marble bust of Sir John Gordon made by French artist Edmé Bouchardon is in the process of being sold by Highland Council.

Invergordon Naval Museum and Heritage Centre wants the artwork to remain in Invergordon, a town in Easter Ross named after Gordon's family.

But two heritage funds say they cannot support the purchase because their publicly funded grants cannot be used to enable the sale of a public asset.

Highland Council looks after the sculpture on behalf of Invergordon Common Good Fund.

Councillors approved the sale in 2024 with the money raised to be put towards a community fund.

Invergordon Naval Museum and Heritage Centre must raise £3.1m by 1 December under the terms of a sale agreement, but said it had hit a "critical impasse".

Trustees said they had approached the National Heritage Memorial Fund and National Lottery Heritage Fund seeking grant support, but were told this was not possible due to "ethical and public benefit concerns".

The heritage bodies said public funding could not be used to enable the commercial disposal of items held in public collections or were the assets of a public trust.

The museum has blamed Highland Council for the situation, and criticised the local authority's consultation process and decision to sell the bust commercially.

"Highland Council's rush to monetise a common good asset has completely broken the system," a spokesperson for the museum said.

"The council has created a nightmare scenario where the community is punished for the council's own unethical sales process."

The spokesperson added: "We are expected to raise more than £3m to buy back our own property, while being barred from the very grant funds built to preserve national treasures."

Trustees are urging Scottish ministers to intervene and have launched an online crowdfunding campaign.

Highland Council said it had followed all relevant legal, governance and decision-making processes.

It said it had carried out a statutory public consultation, adding that "a majority of respondents" had been in favour of the sale.

The council added that it had made an application to a sheriff court seeking authorisation to sell the bust.

It said no objections were received during that process and the sheriff approved the proposed sale.

The Scottish government said it was aware of concerns raised regarding the Bouchardon Bust.

A spokesperson said: "Common good assets are administered by local authorities under their own statutory responsibilities, though we take seriously the duty to ensure consultation requirements under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 are properly observed."

"We are engaging with the relevant parties to get the full information to determine the appropriate next steps."

The bust depicts Sir John Gordon whose family owned large areas of land in Sutherland and Ross-shire and established the town of Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth.

Gordon was a young man travelling through continental Europe when he met the renowned artist Edmé Bouchardon in Rome in 1728 and the sculpture was made.

Invergordon Town Council bought the marble bust for £5 in 1930, but it was later placed in storage at an industrial estate.

It was claimed it was used to prop open the door of a shed.

When the value of the bust eventually came to be fully appreciated, Highland Council decided to sell it with the funds raised to go towards helping the community of Invergordon.