The Church of England created a dilemma when it decided it no longer needed Auckland Castle which happened to contain 12 paintings by Old Master Zurbaran. Now a UK hedge fund manager has stepped forward to save the paintings for the provincial town of Durham:

Jonathan Ruffer, the renowned contrarian wealth manager, has bought a series of twelve Spanish Old Master paintings from the Bishop of Durham for £15 million and given them back as a donation. The paintings by Zurbaran, which show Jacob and his brothers and are hung in the Bishop’s official residence, Auckland Castle, were going to be sold to fund work with the poor, but Ruffer’s donation means they can remain. […] Ruffer says he has never seen the paintings.

Ruffer Donates £15m to Save Paintings (Spear’s Wealth Management)