• Export bar is to allow time for a UK gallery or institution to acquire the painting
• Painting is the only known surviving self-portrait by the Lombard baroque painter and shows the artist both as a painter and a knight

Self-Portrait as a Knight, with a horse, an easel with painter’s palette and a page’ by Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, also known as ‘il Morazzone’, is at risk of leaving the country unless a buyer can be found.

The painting is an example of Lombard art, which has its origins in Lombardy in northern Italy during the early 17th century and remains a relatively unexplored field in art history. The style combines natural realism with intense spirituality and piety.

A work by il Morazzone is rare outside of northern Italy and this painting was presumed lost until its appearance on the London art market in 2020. A departure from the UK of this newly discovered self-portrait would amount to a significant loss.

Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

There are no significant self-portraits by il Morazzone in any public collections in the UK, so this painting is a rare treasure. I hope that a buyer comes forward so that it can be studied and admired in this country.

The Minister’s decision follows the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest. The Committee agreed that this is an extraordinary and rare work from an important school of Italian painting notably absent from UK collections and the significance of this being il Morazzone’s only known self-portrait. As such, they agreed that the painting held importance for research into the social status of painters in 17th century Lombardy.

Committee Member Professor Mark Hallett said:

This is an unusually complex and fascinating picture that cries out for further research and analysis, both as a self-portrait of an important painter from the period, and as a work that illuminates the wider social and cultural dynamics of the 17 th century Lombardy art world.

The painting, which for many years was housed in an English family collection, also has the potential to provide new and important perspectives on the collecting of Italian Baroque art in Britain.

The Committee made its recommendation on the grounds that the departure of the painting from the UK would be a misfortune owing to its outstanding significance for the study of Lombard painting during the baroque period.

The decision on the export licence application for the painting will be deferred for a period ending on 8th November 2022 inclusive. At the end of the first deferral period owners will have a consideration period of 15 Business Days to consider any offer(s) to purchase the painting at the recommended price of £2,000,000. The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for four months.

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the painting should contact the RCEWA on 0845 300 6200.
2. Details of the painting are as follows:

Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli, called ‘il Morazzone’ (1573–1626)

Self-Portrait as a Knight, with a horse, an easel with painter’s palette and a page, about 1605–10

Oil on canvas

78.6 x 59.3 cm

The painting has been recently cleaned and restored. The canvas was lined, perhaps in the late 19th or early 20th century. While the original tacking edges have been lost there is evidence of cusping at top and bottom, and although there is a narrow band of damage along the left vertical edge the overall format seems to be well preserved. Although there are no significant damages, there is evidence of wear in some of the darker areas – in the background, the man’s hair, in the darker parts of his face and on his grey cloak – which is not unexpected in a painting of this date.

1. Provenance:

Diego Felípez de Guzmán y Dávila, 1st Marqués de Leganés (1580–1655), Madrid, by 1642;

Recorded in the Leganés collection, in Morata de Tajuña (south-east of Madrid), in 1655;

Collection of the counts of Altamira, Morata de Tajuña, by 1753;

[The picture presumably made its way from Spain to England in the late 18th or early 19th century];

Catherine Brooks (1853–1934), Flitwick Manor, Bedfordshire;

By whom left to her cousin, Robert Adolphus Lyall (1876–1948);

Thence by descent until offered for sale, Bonhams, London, 8 July 2020, lot 312 (as Circle of Gian Lorenzo Bernini), estimate £40-60,000 (withdrawn);

Purchased privately by the present owner.

1. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by the Arts Council (ACE), which advises the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.

2. Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. They have set out in their strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 they want England to be a country in which everyone’s creativity is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. ACE invest public money from the Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision.

Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. They are also one of the bodies responsible for administering the Government’s unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund.

Thank you, Mr Chair. We welcome the calling of this Special Permanent Council on Russian aggression against Ukraine.

We are appalled by the killing of Ukrainian Prisoners of War held in the Olenivka penal facility. Our thoughts are with the victims’ families and loved ones at this terrible time.

We remind Russia again that it voluntarily signed up to, and helped to create, the elements of International Humanitarian Law under which parties to armed conflict are obliged to safeguard the life, dignity and integrity of persons under their power – including Prisoners of War. Russia’s denial of access to humanitarian organisations is in direct contravention of these laws. Indeed, Russia’s actions are in contravention of basic humanity – even offers of supplies have gone unanswered.

We are not interested in whatever preposterous narrative Russian officials deploy this week. We are interested in urgent humanitarian assistance for those injured at Olenivka. We are interested in the evidenced findings of independent international institutions, including full, unimpeded access for the recently-launched UN fact-finding mission to Olenivka. And we are interested in justice for the victims. We are determined that justice will prevail.

Denial of access to Olenivka is just the latest example of Russia’s contempt for International Humanitarian Law. The second Moscow Mechanism report noted concern over ‘clear patterns of serious violations of international humanitarian law attributable mostly to the Russian armed forces”, including the magnitude and frequency of the indiscriminate attacks carried out against civilians and civilian objects. Russia willingly entered into agreements on International Humanitarian Law, and it cannot shirk its responsibilities.

The Moscow Mechanism report also highlighted the cases of British nationals, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, and Moroccan national Brahim Saadoun – sentenced to death by Russian proxies in illegitimate trials. Russia appears to be preparing to take similar action and put Andrew Hill and John Harding, serving members in the Ukrainian Armed Forces on trial – along with Dylan Healy, a civilian detained while undertaking humanitarian work. All three are entitled to protection under International Humanitarian Law, and their trial by an unrecognised court would be another clear violation by Russia. Attempts to use detainees for propaganda and to force engagement to legitimise Russian proxies are disgraceful. The UK does not recognise or engage with so-called DPR or LPR; we are clear that Russia is responsible and accountable for the treatment of detainees.

Each week, as the devastating consequences of Russia’s barbaric tactics bring more death and destruction, evidence builds and charges mount. Russian missile attacks continue across Ukraine – on 28 July, while Russian officials reeled off Kremlin-approved lies and disinformation in the Permanent Council, 5 people were killed and 25 injured following a strike on a flight academy in Kropyvnytskyi. Meanwhile, IAEA Director-General Grossi has described the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, where Russian troops are present, as completely out of control. According to Director-General Grossi, “all nuclear security measures” have been violated. This behaviour is irresponsible and reflects cruel indifference to potential impacts on civilian populations. But after more than five months, this is what we have come to expect from Putin’s Russia – a state operating outside of the international laws and standards designed to support everyone – including Russia.

The Kremlin has demonstrated again and again that they set no store by international law, including international humanitarian law. Unfortunately for Russia, the rest of the world does. The international community is watching every transgression, and perpetrators will be brought to justice. We have stood with Ukraine from the start. For the sake of European security, we must continue to support Ukraine militarily, economically and with humanitarian aid, until Ukraine’s victory is secured. Thank you, Mr Chair.

Space start-ups generated almost £9 million in investment and created 80 new jobs after taking part in a UK Space Agency-backed business support programme.

The UK Space Agency Space Accelerator Programme, delivered by Entrepreneurial Spark, worked with entrepreneurs from all over the UK aged between 18-70, with business expertise in sectors such as aerospace, law, quantum technology, farming, environmental engineering, and healthcare.

Delivered through a series of virtual events led by a range of industry experts, the Accelerator aimed to break down perceived barriers facing under-represented business founders and open conversations about the opportunities that space can present.

Harshbir Sangha, Director of Growth at UK Space Agency, said:

I’d like to congratulate everyone who successfully completed our Space Accelerator. The UK has a strong entrepreneurial culture and a growing space sector, and there are significant opportunities for new space businesses to start up and thrive with the right support.

The Space Accelerator perfectly encapsulates the value we seek to bring as an agency: catalysing investment, delivering space capabilities and championing space. With record levels of investment flowing into the sector, we want to accelerate the growth in space start ups and create thousands of new jobs across the UK.

Participants included start-up leaders, established businesses in their early stages, and professionals from adjacent sectors who could benefit from space expertise, generating a vast and diverse network of multi-skilled space pioneers.

The UK Space Agency awarded £360,000 to the Accelerator over two financial years. This catalysed a total investment of £8.79 million from other grants and investors, opening up 80 new jobs and directly assisting 88 individual businesses between January 2020 and April 2022.

Since joining the programme, participants have reported an increase in their business turnover and customer numbers, as well as improved confidence in their own leadership skills, strategy planning, business models and partnerships.

James New, Co-founder and CEO of ODIN Space Ltd, said:

Our biggest achievement during the accelerator was raising our first round of investment. We raised £430,000 and it has massively boosted our growth.

The support from UK Space Agency, Entrepreneurial Spark and the delivery partners helped us hone our business model and boost our confidence when pitching to investors. It really felt like we were part of a major industry movement to develop new space businesses.

ODIN Space is now ready to launch and start protecting space assets against orbital debris.

The growing UK space sector is already worth £16.5 billion to the economy and employs almost 47,000 from all over the UK, representing a huge area of opportunity for a range of businesses. The first satellite launches from the UK, due to take off later this year, will also help to drive growth in the sector and enhance the UK’s position as a leader in the global space community.

The Space Accelerator Programme was developed in collaboration with partners including Airbus, Astroscale, the European Space Agency, Department for International Trade, STFC RAL Space and others. Entrepreneurial Spark provided one-to-one support to the participants, specialising in developing entrepreneurial mindsets in technically focused founders. Alden Legal hosted a series of regulatory and access to finance workshops, while AstroAgency delivered space focused market prioritisation and competitive analysis workshops and one-to-one sessions with participants. Grey Consultants provided open access business horizons tech talks to engage new-to-space attendees from all around the UK.

The UK Space Agency is now looking for a partner to design and deliver the next space accelerator phase to run until March 2025. This will include providing a focused package of targeted support to space companies at different stages of development and equip programme participants with the knowledge and skills they need to grow, wherever they are based in the UK.

Entrepreneurial Spark is an impact-led accelerator for entrepreneurs. With a decade of global experience running 22 accelerators, it has supported over 5,000 founders to start, grow and scale their businesses. The Entrepreneurial Spark team members are experts in people, with a focus on helping entrepreneurs overcome the psychological barriers to growth while building great businesses.

General Item

First of all, as I wasn’t here on 7th July, let me say a formal congratulations to the DG, Secretariat and Kazakhstan as Chair who played such a vital role at the Ministerial Conference. It was a remarkable result for this organisation and for the trading system, but also for multilateralism, at a time when people have questioned whether multilateralism can stand up to the challenges of those who question the rules-based system.

Let me pick up three small points; the first is about implementation. Let me welcome the work that you Chair and the secretariat are doing to set out how it is we are going to implement the outcomes of MC12 and I think that is a really important piece of work to keep us focused on implementation. And let me, like others, flag two particular areas, one of which is the ratification of the fisheries agreement which after all, is a ground-breaking agreement for this organisation, our first environmental agreement and one of upmost importance to the world’s fisheries and to communities that rely upon them. I agree with others that say we need press on with the work to build on that agreement, at the same time as you work to ratify what we have achieved, but also I would like to echo the Singaporean Ambassador’s words on e-commerce. It was vital that we renewed that moratorium. It is vital that we keep our eyes on why that moratorium is so important to businesses across the world, developed, developing, micro-businesses as well as the largest businesses in the global economy. It is an enabler of digital growth across the global economy and one we need to sustain as we move forward.

Second point is about learning lessons from MC12. It was a success but we can do better and we must do better at MC13. Brazil has offered some really helpful suggestions in terms of addressing the frequency of our Ministerial meetings and we warmly welcome those proposals, but they’re not enough, they’re not enough. But we can and must do better, both in de-dramatising Ministerials but also to prepare better for them. Also to look at our working methods, to ensure that they meet the needs of the organisation of the 2020s.

Third on the substance. Others have already praised those who are departing our shores and welcomed those who are arriving in Geneva. I think the comments this morning remind us of what we are losing in this organisation. Their comments are absolutely on the spot of the substance of the issues that are facing us. And while we are right to congratulate ourselves of what we achieved at MC12, we must also be cognisant of what we did not manage to achieve at MC12 , whether that be in agriculture, or in terms of services, digital trade, or green goods and services. As we look outside this room at the challenges we face with climate change, the Horn of Africa facing famine as a result of years of drought. As we face the challenges that have been posed to the global economy by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we need to keep our eyes on that bigger prize, of how this organisation. How global trade and the rules that we set enable the green transition and the transition to net-zero. How we can build respect for multilateral rules and the rules based order and we can ensure that the green transition delvers for everybody. Developed and developing, micro-businesses and bigger businesses for our workers, for our consumers, for our societies and our planet. In our effort to implement MC12, we must not lose sight of that bigger picture of how global trade can contribute to those wider common goals, thank you.

TRIPS Council Matters

First of all, let me start by thanking the Chair, the DG and others involved for delivering the WTO’s response to the pandemic including the TRIPS Decision at MC12. That outcome was clearly important in demonstrating how trade can contribute to the response to the pandemic – it was an important outcome both substantively and for the credibility of the WTO.

As others have said today, the pandemic is clearly not over, and significant issues remain with vaccine equity and access.

The UK remains absolutely committed to addressing vaccine inequity and believes that the WTO is pivotal to help find solutions to address the current challenges we face, like manufacturing constraints and supply chain issues, including export restrictions and tariff barriers on COVID-19 critical products.

We have always maintained that IP is part of the response to the pandemic. We are focused on how the IP framework can continue being used to address real issues we are now seeing as the pandemic evolves.

I recall in that context the comments made on Friday by the Chief Executive of GAVI Seth Berkley, that we are now living in “a world of vaccine abundance” in which they are having to work with pharmaceutical companies to minimise wastage in the system. So we need to keep an eye on what is happening in the real world and not how we perceived the situation to be a year or two years ago.

The UK will continue to engage constructively and in good faith on discussions regarding an extension to therapeutics and diagnostics.

The appropriate forum for these discussions is the TRIPS Council. The UK’s view on this issue and next steps is on the record from the last TRIPS Council, so I won’t repeat it here.

We will be focused on doing our homework over the summer to ensure we can have an evidence-based and informed discussion we resume in September. And I hope that other members of this organisations do the same.

Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Graduation

We continue very much to celebrate LDC Graduation; it is a cause for celebration when a country graduates from that status.

But we do recognise – like others here – the challenges that LDCs face when graduating. And that’s one reason why we will continue to provide a transition period and even more generous preferences on the eagerly awaited Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which we will be unveiling with great fanfare later this year.

And we share some of the frustration in this room in thinking that we probably could have achieved an outcome on this issue at MC12. We, for our part, tried to play our bit to try and establish common ground with other delegations. And we thank the Republic of Korea, amongst others, for their efforts to do the same.

So we thank the LDC Group for their flexibility, and for approaching these discussions in a spirit of compromise. Flexibility, openness, proactive compromises are going to be required from all of us if we are to reach a successful conclusion to this issue.

So we remain committed to working with other delegations here to help LDCs, and LDC Graduates, to integrate further into the multilateral trading system, and to enjoy the fruits of economic growth that flow from that.

Thank you very much.

Improved Notifications Compliance Proposal

Please allow me to say what has already been said, but let me just reiterate it. First of all we thank the work by the United States and the cosponsors, we thank them for the way they have engaged with other delegations on this. Transparency is an essential part of this organisation’s work, we do it well, but we could do it better. That is what this proposal is all about, making our existing work better without new obligations but with some new incentives. Just as we came together at MC12, to find agreement on some issues on which different delegations had different concerns, I hope we can come together on this proposal, find consensus and improve the work of our organisation to the benefit of all Members, thank you.

Reform Proposal

It’s clear that if you listen to this debate that we all want to see this organisation reformed, but we’ve all got very different ideas of what reform means, so I take due note of what is in this communication and the comments made by colleagues in this hall this morning. I think we ought to be aware that different Members have different views, different visions, and as we resume this work back in September under your guidance, your consultations, we need to find ways to find common ground as we did again, at the Ministerial, and not assume that any one vision can answer the needs of the organisation as a whole.