Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has given fans of pastoral Romanticism a £3.8 million ultimatum to save a painting by 19th century landscape painter Samuel Palmer.
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest awarded a starred rating to The Shearers, urging that "every possible effort" be made to keep it in the country.
"It's an interesting picture from both an iconographic and a historical point of view," said Reviewing Committee member Johnny Van Haefen.
"It is aesthetically outstanding because of its well-constructed composition, powerful figures and incredible light. If retained in the UK, it will enhance the study of Palmer's 'Shoreham' period, a distinct strand of Romanticism which ran through Britain in the 19th century."
Palmer was a key figure in the Romantic Movement. He lived in Shoreham, Kent between 1826 and 1835 where he created visionary and nostalgic works in opposition to the predominant naturalism of the time.
The Shearers was one of Palmer's largest landscape painting and was a typically bucolic representation of the English pastoral tradition, depicting a group of farm workers shearing sheep in a rolling, sunlit English landscape.
Palmer adopted an allegorical approach to the subject matter as opposed to a literal representation. The painting reflects a time when the artist began to turn away from the purely visionary and adopt a more commercially viable style.
Bidders who prove their interest by March 22 will be given a further three months to complete the acquisition.
