Sir Denis Mahon collection to be given to UK galleries The National Gallery will now house 25 paintings, with twelve going to the Ashmolean in Oxford, eight to the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, six to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, five to Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, and one to Temple Newsam House, Leeds. The decision was announced this morning at the National Gallery. Sir Denis, a staunch advocate of free admission to galleries and public access to art, also left a £1m legacy to the Art Fund. Johann Liss, The Fall of Phaethon c.1624 given to the National Gallery The paintings, hailed as an "extraordinary bequest," will now be available in their new locations in perpetuity. Praising Sir Denis's lifelong support for the charity, Art Fund director Stephen Deuchar said: "His vision as an art collector was extraordinary, as was his determination that his collection should ultimately be on public display. It is an enormous honour for the Art Fund to have been entrusted with his private collection and to oversee its transfer into the permanent collections of these museums and galleries across the UK. Dr Nicholas Penny, Director of the National Gallery said: "Sir Denis was associated with the National Gallery for nearly eighty years, beginning with his appointment as an attaché to the curatorial department under Kenneth Clark and culminating in the great celebratory exhibition of his collectionhere in the 1990s - Rediscovering the Baroque. As a hyperactive trustee of the gallery and exacting friend ofmany curators he did much to urge us to acquire great Baroque paintings. He is one of our greatest benefactors and we will always honour his memory. Christopher Brown, Director of the Ashmolean Museum added: "Sir Denis Mahon was a tireless champion of museums. During his lifetime, the Ashmolean was hugely enriched by Denis's friendship andsupport. We are profoundly grateful to him and to the Art Fund for the allocation of these twelve important paintings from the Mahon collection. They are on display in the Ashmolean's permanent galleries where, as Denis wished, they are seen by millions of visitors free of charge.