British-owned Rembrandt painting to head to Amsterdam?

The Art Newspaper is reporting that Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum is in negotiations to purchase an original Rembrandt painting from a private collection.

The painting, entitled Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet, is currently owned by the Penryhn family, and resides at the National Trust-owned Penrhyn Castle near Bangor in north Wales. According to the article, the family no longer controls the castle. (The painting is currently on loan to the Rijksmuseum.)

The price tag? £40m, which would double any Rembrandt has ever sold at auction. As reporter Martin Bailey wrote, "If the sale to the Rijksmuseum proceeds, a UK export licence would almost certainly be deferred, because of the painting’s importance, allowing a UK buyer to match the price. The public collections with a special interest would be the National Trust (to keep the picture at Penrhyn), the National Museum and Gallery of Wales in Cardiff and the National Gallery in London."

Finally, some interesting facts from the last two paragraphs of the article:

Meanwhile, Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet remains on loan to the Rijksmuseum until 29 April. If it then stays in Amsterdam, there will be three Rembrandt masterpieces left in British private collections: Judas and the Thirty Pieces of Silver (Marchioness of Normanby, loaned for two months every year to the National Gallery), An Old Woman Reading (Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, on view at Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire) and a 1657 Self-portrait (Duke of Sutherland, on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland since 1945).

Astonishingly, in 1949 Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet was valued at only £1,000, with the family’s pre-war Rolls Royce worth three times more. The car still survives at Penrhyn Castle, although its value has long been eclipsed by the Rembrandt.

Quite amazing, don't you think?