A museum in Oxford, England, has launched a campaign to buy a painting by French Impressionist Edouard Manet to stop it leaving Britain.
Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus, painted in 1868, has been owned by the family of the artist John Singer Sargent since 1884 and has been exhibited only once.
The family has agreed to a sale with a foreign buyer for £28.35 million.
But the government has imposed an export ban and will waive tax, allowing the Ashmolean museum to buy it for £7.8 million if the funds can be found.
Director Dr Christopher Brown said the picture has been in England since its sale following the artist's death.
The BBC reports the museum is seeking funds from public bodies, trusts and private donors and must raise the money by August.
The portrait is of Fanny Claus, a concert violinist and friend of Manet's wife. It was a preparatory study for Le Balcon, which hangs in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.
