Museum acquisitions

The Bowes Museum has secured funding at a sum of nearly £2.3m to keep an exit-barred painting attributed to the workshop of Dieric Bouts the Elder in the UK.

Sim Fine Art have sold their first ever painting to the Tate who have added it to their permanent collection.

More than 25,160 visitors attended the 44th annual Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia which concluded its seven day run yesterday.

Two finely carved marble figures of mourners from the tomb of Jean de France, the duc de Berry (1340-1416) brother of King Charles V of France were secured by the Louvre for €4.4m (£3.67m) at Christie’s Paris last week.

Two landscapes by 19th century European artists have been donated to the National Gallery by Asbjørn Lunde, an American of Norwegian extraction who is one of the world’s top collectors in the field.

Oxford’s Bodleian Library has acquired a map of Middle-earth annotated by JRR Tolkien (1892-1973).

A portrait by Eugène Delacroix redolent with associations to Nineteenth century French Romanticism has been secured by the Paris museum dedicated to his work.

A large drawing by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) which has never been exhibited before has gone on display at Pallant House Gallery after being acquired by the Chichester gallery via the Acceptance in Lieu scheme.

A Russian malachite and ormolu chimney went on show last week at the museum at Cliffe Castle in Keighley more than half a century after it left the property.

A museum in Switzerland has acquired this extraordinary monkey band automaton at an online-only auction conducted by East Bristol Auctions, in Hanham, Bristol.

A group of 32 ancient gold ornaments have been returned to China following claims they had been illegally removed.

The Wedgwood Collection has gone back on public display now a £34m museum redevelopment is complete.

A large marine painting by Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) showing oyster fishing off the Exmoor coast has been bought by The Museum of Somerset.

A previously unpublished book of ceramic designs that could shed new light on the work of Dr Christopher Dresser goes on public view for the first time during a three-day festival celebrating the life and work of the Victorian designer.

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has launched a public campaign to raise the funds needed to secure JMW Turner's The High Street, Oxford.

The writing desk and chair used by Charles Dickens as he penned a number of his later classics have been bought by a museum based at the author’s former central London home.

A fresh warning has gone out to UK museums and galleries that they could face future funding cuts if they sell items from their collections.

Dulwich Picture Gallery have announced a major exhibition dedicated to Eric Ravilious (1903-42) from April 1 until August 31.

The parties caught in a conundrum over proper title to two of the recently rediscovered Wolsey Angels have formed an extraordinary syndicate to resolve the issue.

The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge have promised to reveal more evidence backing the attribution to Michelangelo of a pair of bronze figures of two nude males riding panthers.