Battle to save Manet painting takes to the streets (From The Oxford Times)

Battle to save Manet painting takes to the streets

10:00am Thursday 12th July 2012 in News

Greg Jones with one of the replicas of the Manet painting

With time fast running out, the Ashmolean Museum is stepping up its efforts to put everyone in the picture about its campaign to save an Impressionist masterpiece.

The museum has just three weeks left to raise £590,000 to keep Manet’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus in Oxford and stop it being sold abroad.

And to ensure everyone at the city knows what is at stake, museum staff have hung weather proof full-size framed copies of the Manet portrait to brighten up city centre streets.

Today the director of the Ashmolean, Dr Christopher Brown, will lead a Manet Walk from the museum to visit all 10 portraits now hanging from railings in prominent sites around the city. The walk starts at the museum at noon.

The replica Manets can be seen at: Christ Church; Oxford Castle Quarter; outside the former Radcliffe Infirmary;. St Mary’s University Church, High Street; St Peter’s College, New Inn Hall Street; Trinity College, Broad Street; Parks Road, the entrance to the University Parks; and Wellington Square.

Greg Jones, of the Ashmolean, said: “By creating a series of replicas and installing them in prominent places around the city, we have created an eye-catching outdoor discovery trail to engage passers-by, residents, tourists and businesses in the campaign.”