A £29 million drawing of a muse by Italian master Raphael (above), a rare snap by pioneering 19th century British photographer Roger Fenton and a set of letters described as "a who's who of radical Britain in the late 18th and 19th centuries" have been banned from leaving the country by the Culture Minister.
Margaret Hodge is giving domestic buyers extra time to save the "outstanding" trio, starring Renaissance icon Raphael's "exquisite" Head of a Muse.
The first major commission received by the artist from Pope Julius II in 1510, the auxiliary cartoon for the Vatican fresco has been awarded a starred rating, ordering "every possible effort" to raise funds to keep it in the UK.
Raphael made 60 pages of preparatory drawings in the build-up to the black chalk piece, seeing the commission as a chance to take on Michelangelo, who was working on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel a few rooms away.
"Raphael was a supreme draughtsman, and Head of a Muse is a star drawing," said the Reviewing Committee's Professor David Ekserdjian.
"It encapsulates an ideal of feminine beauty which characterised his art and influenced later artists throughout Europe.
"The UK is rich in Raphael drawings, but this is the only auxiliary cartoon related to the Stanza della Signatura commission. It is important for the study of Raphael's work as a unique record of his original artistic vision."
Roger Fenton's Pasha and Bayadère
Roger Fenton became arguably the country's first war photographer when he profiled troops at the Crimean War in 1855.
Pasha and Bayadère, which has been priced at £108,506, is part of a series of 50 Orientalist photographs inspired by his experience in the Crimeria, cited as "an expression of a general craze for all things Oriental" prevalent in late 19th century European art.
Taken in his London studio, Fenton uses the shot to portray himself as a Pasha Turkish military official watching a dancing girl perform.
The only other example of the images is in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, but this is the only non-proof version.
"Pasha and Bayadère demonstrates how the best photographs can hold their own aesthetically against other art forms," said Committee Chair Lord Inglewood, who warned that photography "is sometimes undervalued" in Britain.
"As well as being a remarkable image, the work is also important for the study of the history of photography. The fact that the Getty Museum chose to make their own version of this image the subject of a scholarly monograph shows just how highly Fenton's work is regarded outside the UK."
Letters written to Thomas Walker
The final lucrative lot comprises an archive of correspondence sent to Thomas Walker, a Manchester merchant and political radical who railed for civil liberty, law changes and the abolition of the slave trade between the second half of the 18th century and his death in 1817.
Thomas Paine and Joseph Priestley are among a cast of luminaries in the volume of 160 letters.
The "extraordinary insight into British life" during a tumultuous social period would have risked prosecution if it had been discovered at the time.
"It provides an insight into how the themes of liberty were being explored in Britain at this time," said Inglewood, calling it a "fascinating archive".
Potential buyers have until April 24 to prove their interest in the archive, May 1 for the Fenton photograph and May 25 for the Raphael drawing.
