Diana and Actaeon

From start to finish, the five month-long campaign to secure Titian’s Diana and Actaeon has been, like the painting itself, an extraordinary tale of drama and controversy. However, unlike the ill-fated Actaeon it features, on Monday the National Gallery announced that the conclusion had finally reached a happy ending and that the masterpiece lay safely in the hands of the nation.

The art-world’s popping champagne corks and cheers of joy have been somewhat overshadowed, however, by the grumblings of those refusing to embrace the miniscule fragment of Titian’s masterpiece they can now claim to own. A landmark national success story has been tinged by the pessimism of a public echoing Glasgow South West MP Ian Davidson’s outrage at a £50 million price-tag for a painting by an artist "very few people will ever have heard of." The Scottish Government’s pledge of £12.5 million seems to have added salt to the wound, sparking internet posts which question "how dare anybody spend public money on this painting in the name of the people?"

Yet with a significant tourist draw—predicted to generate £27 million a year from half day visits to the National Gallery—and at £100 million less than its market value, this is a bargain masterpiece which will beat anything you’ve found in the January sales. Surely this can lay to rest the worries, maybe even bring a smile to the face of even the most frugal Scot? If not, then I suggest it’s time to look beyond the financial worth of the painting.

Diana and Actaeon, which has been available for public display since 1806, is a work engraved in our heritage and a magnificent feat of human endeavour that should continue to be celebrated and conserved for the nation, regardless of the origin of the painter. If we have to get nationalistic about it, think what a huge coup it is for Scotland.

The list of British artists who claim their access to Titian’s masterpiece has inspired their craft is strictly A-list. Lucien Freud described the painting and its pendant work, Diana and Callisto—whose fate still hangs in the balance—as his "absolute favourites" whereas Tracey Emin, true to form, freely discussed Actaeon’s "rather large member" as a focal point of the piece. John Bellany, Bridget Riley, Howard Hodgkin and Michael Craig-Martin also lent support proving that, even 450 years on, Titian still has a place in the heart of contemporary artists over a wide range of disciplines and styles.

But if you are struggling to see the influence of Titian’s painterly style on the modern world, perhaps his legacy will resonate stronger at Edinburgh College of Art, where students have been tirelessly working on a large scale reproduction of Diana and Actaeon. This demonstration of the enduring influence of an Old Master upon art students is explicit, and the hybrid mix of Renaissance and contemporary practice is, as you would expect, wonderfully interesting.

Taking a composite form, the collaborative piece consists of 56 panels upon which each of the second year painting students can project their own individual response to the masterpiece. From the beautifully executed heads of Diana and Actaeon, to the rather edgy neon painted nymphs and the perfectly scaled photo of Actaeon’s torso, the project seems far from amateurish.

With every piece echoing the originality of its creator whilst fitting harmoniously with its counterpart it is a fantastic tribute to the Titian campaign. It has even attracted attention from top dogs at the National Gallery, with director-general John Leighton describing it as "a wonderful example of the power and impact of Titian's Diana and Actaeon, and the role a major masterpiece can play in inspiring art students today."

The doubters, one hopes, are silenced now – content in the knowledge that the financial, cultural and educational rewards Diana and Actaeon brings will far outweigh the relatively small cost it took to secure it.