£100m bid to save masterpieces by Titian from being sold abroad

Art experts said the loss of the paintings - Diana & Actaeon and Diana & Callisto - would be the equivalent of the Louvre in Paris having to give up the Mona Lisa.

On the open market the two Old Masters would be expected to sell for £300million but their owner, the Duke of Sutherland, said he would accept £100million for them if it meant they could stay in Britain.

Cut-price: Diana And Actaeon is one of two Titians being offered to the National Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland

Galleries are expected to approach the Government and various lottery and art funds for help in organising a rescue package.

But amid the global credit crunch Chancellor Alistair Darling is already under pressure to find money to help struggling home-owners, drivers, small businesses and low income households.

The two paintings by the Italian Renaissance master Titian have been on display in the National Gallery of Scotland since 1945, as part of the renowned Bridgewater Collection.

The £1billion collection was loaned to the Edinburgh gallery by the 6th Duke of Sutherland and includes four Titians, three Raphaels and a Rembrandt.

But the current duke has said he will have to sell part 'a significant part' of the collection unless a rescue package can be agreed for the two Titians.

He has set a deadline of New Year's Eve to agree a £50million sale of Diana & Actaeon. If that deal is successful he would then give the National Gallery of Scotland and the National Gallery in London another four years to raise £50million for Diana & Callisto.

Titian's Diana And Callisto will be sold abroad if the appeal fails to raise £100m by New Year

He would also extend the private loan on the remainder of the collection, provided the galleries buy the two Titians.

John Leighton, the director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, said the paintings would be an 'incalculable' loss.

He said: 'I think it would be hard to exaggerate the misfortune it would be. In our terms it would be like the Mona Lisa being taken out of the Louvre, or the Uffizi gallery in Florence losing its Botticellis.

'This collection has sat at the very heart of the national collection. It has been a source of pilgrimage for visitors or artists for the past 60 years and it really would be an incalculable loss.'

Mr Leighton said the galleries would approach Westminster and the Scottish Executive for help in raising the money.

The previous highest amount paid for a work of art acquired by a British public collection was £22million, paid by the National Gallery for Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks in 2004.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture denied reports that Culture Secretary Andy Burnham had already asked the Treasury for an emergency grant of up to £20million.

He said the department accepted that the Duke's offer of £100million for both paintings was 'generous' for two such exceptional artworks.

But he added: 'It is far too early to say what contribution, if any, the UK Government will be able to make.

'We are very aware that the culture sector has now received three generous settlements in a row from successive spending rounds. There is no "pot of gold" that can be drawn on.'

He said the galleries were likely to approach the Art Fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Scottish Executive and Department for Culture.

The Duke's spokesman, Terence Fane-Saunders, said he was 'very keen' to see the collection kept together and on public view in the UK. 

If the Government refuses to help then the galleries will be forced to rely on the arts and lottery funds and private donations to save the paintings.