Works of art feared lost after a mob ransacked the British diplomatic mission in the Libyan capital Tripoli had an estimated value of more than £130,000. Among the works believed to have been looted or destroyed in the attack was an 18th century oil painting by Philip Reinagle estimated to be worth £60,000. A £35,000 landscape in the style of Italian painter Salvator Rosa and a £20,000 portrait by Edmund Havell were also in the residence when it was raided. Details of the contents of the British residence in Tripoli were revealed in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Press Association.
The overall cost of the attack on May 1, which prompted Foreign Secretary William Hague to expel Libya’s ambassador to the UK, will not be calculated until officials are able to return to Tripoli.
Diplomatic missions belonging to a number of Nato states were targeted after an airstrike reportedly killed Muammar Gaddafi’s youngest son and three of his grandchildren. The British embassy was set alight and a Second World War memorial was desecrated in the incident. Asked whether an assessment had been made of the risk to national security from any intelligence material held in the residence getting into the hands of Gaddafi loyalists, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it “can neither confirm nor deny” whether it held information to answer the question.
Under the FoI Act’s national security exemption, “the FCO has determined that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exclusion of the duty to confirm or deny outweighs the public interest in confirming whether or not the information is held”. But details of artworks contained in the residence were released by the Foreign Office along with the Government Art Collection’s estimated values.
Reinagle’s 1797 painting Harrier Killing a Bittern was the most valuable work in the residence. It was purchased for the Government Art Collection in 1965 but its current location is listed as “looted or destroyed”.
The same description was applied to the Mountainous Landscape with Travellers in the style of Salvator Rosa and Havell’s portrait of William Stratton, Head Keeper to Sir John Cope of Bramshill Park, Hampshire.
Lost works of art:
• London and Westminster 1-5, by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, 1749. A set of five coloured engravings with an estimated value of £5,000.
• The Town of Jedburgh, by John Clark, 1825. A colour aquatint, estimated value £200.
• The Town of Banff, by John Clark, 1825. A colour aquatint, estimated value £200.
• King George V, after S.L. Fildes. Oil on canvas, estimated value £1,000.
• Boxed In, by Linda Green, 1978. Woven textile, estimated value £5,000.
• William Stratton, Head Keeper to Sir John Cope of Bramshill Park, Hampshire, by Edmund Havell, c1840. Oil on canvas, estimated value £20,000.
• Queen Mary, after William Llewellyn. Oil on canvas, estimated value £1,000.
• The Happy Family, after George Morland, 1787; and A View of Gibraltar, after J.A. Noel. Coloured engraving, estimated value £200.
• Harrier Killing a Bittern, by Philip Reinagle, 1797. Oil on canvas, estimated value £60,000.
• Sea Change, by Margaret Reigler. Woven textile, estimated value £3,000.
• Mountainous Landscape with Travellers in the style of Salvator Rosa. Oil on canvas, estimated value £35,000.
• Barbaria, by Frederick de Wit, c1680. Coloured engraving, estimated value £500.