The unholy saga of the Francisco de Zurbarán paintings at Auckland Castle just gets worse and worse.
Riazat Butt religious correspondent of The Guardian reflects:
To Durham, where there is not much in the way of festive cheer now a £15m art deal has bitten the dust, and a fascinating insight into the Church of England, power and politics.
While the sale appeared to be on shaky ground for some time, the story has sprouted legs thanks to a remarkable and revealing article from banker and would be art-buyer Jonathan Ruffer, who blows the whistle in the latest edition of the Church Times on his spat with the Church Commissioners, who manage the Church of England’s investment portfolio, and its top dog, Andreas Whittam Smith. Yes – that one.
Stokesley-born Ruffer was to buy Francisco de Zurbarán’s paintings from the Church Commissioners and keep them at Auckland Castle, which Ruffer proposed should be restored, held in trust and become a major heritage attraction.
I am indebted to the Northern Echo for carrying an interview with Ruffer and excerpts from the article, which is by turns, astonishing and exquisite:
Andreas Whittam Smith is by nature a buccaneer: quick to offer the hand of friendship, decisive and brave. He generously accepted an apology for a remark I made which had hurt him. Andrew Brown is a very different character, the antithesis of the smutty joke: he is wholesome, serious, and dutiful. He would make an excellent minor royal. Yet these men have managed to torpedo two deals, to the detriment of one of the neediest regions of the UK.
If you’ll indulge me I’m going to paste entire paragraphs from the Church Times piece – I assume you don’t have subscriptions and this fine Anglican organ does go behind a paywall – so do please read on.
Ruffer continues:
Andreas and Andrew are neither mischievous nor malicious. They are decent men who have gone wrong. Through a historic accident, and a few ‘myths of convenience’, they appear to be no longer accountable to diocesan bishops or even the archbishops.
True, the diocesans get to elect an acting chairman, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is the actual chairman, but I have seen at first-hand how the present incumbents are treated. The acting chairman’s offerings are treated as “suggestions”, and I witnessed last month the Primate of All England pleading for the future of the Castle. The Archbishop pleading; Andreas untouchable, untouched (my italics).
It suits the First Church Estates Commissioner to promote this chimera of absolute power. Here is Andreas in the General Synod, swatting the bluebottles of outrage at the disposal of the Octavia Hill Estates: “The assets committee of the Church Commissioners under the law establishing the Church Commissioners has exclusive control over the assets.
And Ruffer keeps landing those blows:
I have had to deal with these people not only with the Zurbaráns but also in my position as chairman of the Auckland Castle regeneration project. The evasions and disappointments have come like grouse — sometimes singly, sometimes in coveys.
I had to look up covey in a dictionary, I thought he had misspelled convoy, but no.
Amazingly, he has enough outrage to plough on. He concludes by saying that he issued the Church Commissioners with a deadline, it passed, thereby
…making it two slaps in the face for County Durham from the First Church Estates Commissioner and his chief executive.
Brilliant stuff.
But Ruffer insists he has not abandoned the deal altogether. He told the Northern Echo:
I’m still absolutely up for it. I will dare to make a suggestion out of my own pocket to square the circle – I am offering to put a lot more money in and I am hoping they will help me.
He said he was defending his reputation with the article:
I am explaining how someone can give a £15m gift and then go back on it – that seems a dishonourable thing to do and I look cowardly and untrustworthy.
The bishop of Durham, the Church Commissioners and Ruffer will meet this week to resolve the issue. Oh to be a fly on the wall at that summit – but not a bluebottle.