THE Government has blocked the export of a work of art that has been on display in North Yorkshire for almost two centuries.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has slapped a temporary export ban on a painting by one of Rembrandt’s most talented apprentices which has hung in Castle Howard since 1825.

The work, Portrait of a Boy by Ferdinand Bol, was sold at Sotheby’s last summer for £5,189,000 – almost twice the original estimate.

It was one of a number of treasures from Castle Howard that went under the hammer, raising £12.7m for the the house’s upkeep, and is the second of the items sold to have been hit by such a ban.

Just last month Mr Vaizey temporarily barred the export of two 17th-century Italian cabinets which fetched £1,265,000 at the same sale. The bans are an attempt to save the items for the nation.

Portrait of a Boy set a new record for a work by Ferdinand Bol. The image - believed to be of the artist’s eight-year-old son - was painted in 1652 and is considered one of the most remarkable child portraits of the Dutch Golden Age.

It has been on display at Castle Howard in Yorkshire since 1825 after it was bought by Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle. Few of Bol’s portraits have survived and the portrait is regarded as the finest example of his work in any public or private collection in Britain.

Bol worked at Rembrandt’s studio in Amsterdam where he helped to teach other apprentices. He left the studio in 1642 but his early work imitated Rembrandt’s style so closely that some were mistaken for that of the master.

Mr Vaizey said: “This important painting has been in this country for more than 200 years and I want to make sure it stays here.

“It is a rare portrait by one of the most successful artists from the Dutch Golden Era and the finest example left in the UK.”

The decision to defer an export licence follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

Member Lowell Libson said: “This remarkable and compellingly enigmatic portrait of a young man is the grandest and most complex of Ferdinand Bol’s rare portraits of children.

“Bol was perhaps the most talented of Rembrandt’s pupils, enjoying a highly successful career in Amsterdam, and this is undoubtedly the finest example of his work to survive in the UK.”

The ban will last until April 25 but could be extended until September 25 if a serious intent emerges to raise the £5,189,000 - plus VAT of £137,800.