Arts Council England has announced the acceptance in lieu of inheritance tax of a painting by Sir Anthony Van Dyck of his close friend Olivia Porter. This exceptional portrait which has been allocated to The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham, is a major acquisition for the North of England.

Portrait of Olivia Mrs. Endymion Porter by Van Dyck, one of the most important painters working in England in the seventeenth century, was painted circa 1637 when the artist was at the height of his career and is one of his finest female portraits.