The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the National Gallery in London are working together with the Duke of Sutherland to secure the long-term future of the Bridgewater loan of Old Master paintings.

The Bridgewater Collection, currently on view at the NGS, is the most important private collection of Old Master paintings on loan to an institution in the UK and counts among the most important art collections anywhere in the world.

The loan includes masterpieces by artists such as Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt and Poussin.

The pictures have been on continuous public view in the National Gallery of Scotland since the collection was placed there in 1945 by the then 5th Earl of Ellesmere, later 6th Duke of Sutherland. It forms the core of the NGS’s displays of European art.

This is the first-ever collaboration of its kind between the London and Edinburgh National Galleries.