ROH Chair rescues Hockney portrait to raise funds

David Hockney's Portrait of Sir David Webster, formerly owned by the Royal Opera House where Webster was CEO from 1945 to 1970, has been bought at auction for £12.8m by David Ross, current Chair of the Royal Opera House, to prevent it being sent abroad.

The sale of the portrait was part of a fundraising drive by the Opera House and the billionaire Co-Founder of Carphone Warehouse has loaned the painting back to the organisation until it goes the National Portrait Gallery – where he is also a trustee – for its grand reopening exhibition in 2023.