The British government is expected this week to grant a temporary halt to export of Raphael’s “Madonna of the Pinks” to the US. “The new director of the National Gallery will then begin the fight of his life, to persuade the heritage lottery fund that saving Raphael’s exquisite Madonna of the Pinks is worth paying £20 million to one of the richest men in the country. The fund has the money: despite the sharp fall in lottery ticket sales it will have about £300 million to give away this year, as well as the interest on grants which have been allocated but not yet paid out.”