A Botticelli painting placed under an export ban in an effort to keep it in the UK was acquired by the Klesch Collection and will stay in England by way of a three-year loan to the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford. As reported by The Art Newspaper , the work—titled The Virgin and Child Enthroned and dated to the 1470s—had been valued last May at £10.2 million (around $13.9 million). Previously it had sold at Sotheby’s in London for £9.7 million ($13.2 million). In a statement, the director of the Ashmolean Museum, Xa Sturgis, said the institution “warmly welcomes this acquisition of a painting by one of the most important artists in the Western tradition, and we’re so pleased that it will remain in the UK. We recognise the value of the Klesch Collection’s commitment to lending works to public institutions.” Related Articles Gary Klesch, an Anglo-American industrialist, and his wife Anita Klesch, an art historian, collect with a focus on European art from the 15th through 17th centuries.…