Britain holding onto old master

Britain has slapped a temporary export ban on a rare early pen-and-ink study by Michelangelo to give time for efforts to raise the $11.7 million needed to buy it for the nation.

“Study of a Mourning Woman,” one of only five examples of Michelangelo’s early work, of which only two are in private hands, was sold at auction in mid-2001 for $9.1 million to a London dealer.

The sketch, a three-quarter profile of a standing woman, now belongs to an American collector and was destined to be moved overseas before the ban.

The ban lasts to the end of January but could be extended through June if there is indication of a serious attempt to raise the funds, Arts Minister Tessa Blackstone said in a statement.

The sketch has been dated to between 1494 and 1504.