Last-minute funds rescue a Rubens

An important sketch by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens valued at more than $20 million will be on permanent public display in Britain after being bought by private, public and charity funds.

The Tate gallery, which spearheaded the campaign to keep the oil sketch off the open market, announced Wednesday that the necessary funds had been raised just in time to beat the Sept. 30 deadline.

The sketch, dated between 1628 and 1630, was an early planning tool for nine large panels by Rubens that adorn the ceiling of the Banqueting House in central London and depict King James I variously sitting in judgment and ascending into heaven.