Letter from Professor Max Müller to Charles Ruland casting doubt on the possibility of Oxford University buying the remains of the Woodburn collection of Old Master drawings.

Professor Max Müller writes that after making enquiries, he doubts that the University will be willing to spend a large sum of money on buying an art collection. The £10,000 legacy to the University on which he had pinned his hopes has been earmarked for something else, and the Natural History Museum is taking up all available funds from the University Chest. He adds that the Trustees of the University Picture Gallery are the Dean of Christ Church and Dr. Wellesley; if the rest of the Woodburn collection were to be bought by the University, it would have to be effected through them.

This letter implies that Becker and Ruland were in touch with Max Müller in the hope that the drawings might be bought by Oxford for the University Gallery, which had previously bought a large number of drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo from Samuel Woodburn.

The drawings were those about to be auctioned at Christie's (see VIC/ADDA10/85/110 and VIC/ADDA10/85/111).

Related Material: For related correspondence, see VIC/ADDA10/85/110 and VIC/ADDA10/85/111.