UK Parliament Misplaces Over 65 Works of Art

The Parliamentary Art Collection has misplaced more than 65 works of art, according to a freedom of information request. The missing items include an engraved portrait of William Wilberforce, a photograph of Benjamin Disraeli by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, and portraits of Margaret Beckett and Barbara Castle. Among the lost pieces is a 1995 satirical cartoon by Martin Rowson depicting a Conservative leadership battle.

A parliamentary spokesperson described the holdings as a working collection where objects move frequently between locations. The spokesperson stated that none of the missing items have been written off or considered a financial loss, noting that five works were recovered this year during ongoing audits.

This discovery follows a similar 2018 freedom of information request that revealed 224 missing works, including portraits of William Pitt the Younger. Martin Rowson characterized the loss of his original cartoon as a shame but noted that such works belong more to journalism than art, as the published impressions in newspapers serve as the primary record for posterity.