Kirklees Council risks losing key funding from major arts bodies if it sells elements of its collection.

It would join other local authorities such as Northampton and Bury, which were stripped of their accredited status by Arts Council England after disposing of heritage assets.

Kirklees’ Labour council leader David Sheard is calling for a public debate to look at all options regarding the borough’s “superstar” painting, Francis Bacon’s ‘Figure Study II’. It has been valued at £19.5 million but based on recent auction prices art experts say it could be worth double or even treble that amount.

Art lovers are against any sale, warning that such a move could be “the thin end of the wedge”.

Equally worryingly, losing Arts Council accreditation could make Kirklees a cultural pariah.

In 2006 Bury Metropolitan Borough Council sold LS Lowry’s ‘A Riverbank’ at auction for £1.4 million, far exceeding its £500-800,000 asking price. Money from the sale was earmarked to resolve the authority’s budget deficit.

The sale provoked a furious response, with the Museums Association describing it as “a dark day for museums, and a worrying development particularly for local authority museums”.

The Examiner Battle Bus visits St George's Square - Kirklees Council leader David Sheard
Kirklees Council leader David Sheard

In 2014 Northampton Museum raised nearly £16 million to help pay for an extension after it sold a 4,000-year-old limestone statue of the Egyptian god Sekhemka at auction.

It was later penalised by Arts Council England, which withdrew its accreditation, effectively closing the door to a range of funding opportunities from it and other organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund. It was ruled that the sale breached the accredited standards for how museums manage their collections.

And this summer two sculptures by Barbara Hepworth were sold by Wakefield Girls’ High School at Sotheby’s in London for more than £2.2 million. The school said proceeds from the sale would be used for new bursaries and “enhanced opportunities for students”. The sale was prompted by rising insurance costs. Hepworth attended the school from age six to 17.

Barbara Hepworth artist and Sculpturer - May 1962

Criticism and negative comment can have international repercussions. In America in 2003 the Museum of Northern Arizona was lambasted by the American Association of Museums for the “unethical” sale of artefacts to fund payroll and other operating costs because items are kept in “public trust”.

Clr Sheard said significant Arts Council money had been forthcoming to fund living artists in North Kirklees, and that the risk of losing accreditation was a concern. He estimated the figure was in the region of £2 million.

He added that it is too soon to say whether the council could mount a legal challenge against a restrictive covenant that prevents the Bacon painting being sold.

Francis Bacon is one of the most sought-after modern artists. The value of his expressionist-surrealist works has soared since his death, aged 82, in 1992.

Art market information leader Artprice has listed Bacon as one of 10 frontline modern artists alongside the likes of Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

At auction Bacon’s art regularly breaks records. In November 2013 his triptych ‘Three Studies of Lucian Freud’ sold at Christie’s New York for £86.28 million ($142 million), becoming the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction.

And in 2014 ‘Portrait of George Dyer’ sold to an anonymous bidder for £42.2 million, well over the pre-sale estimate of £28 million.

‘Figure Study II’, the Bacon painting held by Kirklees, was previously turned down by the Tate Gallery in London. It is estimated to be worth at least £19.5 million, though that figure may now be out of date.

Since 2000 ‘Figure Study II’ has been seen in galleries and exhibitions around the world, touring to Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany, France, the United States, Italy, Spain, Australia and Japan.

Kirklees’ heritage assets – including works by John Martin, LS Lowry and Henry Moore – are believed to be worth in the region of £30 million.

The Henry Moore sculpture ‘Falling Warrior’ was valued at £1.5m. The 1816 oil painting ‘Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still Upon Gibeon’ by the 19th century Romantic Painter John Martin is said to be worth £2m. The Lowry, called ‘Huddersfield 1965’, is on display at Huddersfield Art Gallery. Its value is unknown but could be around £300,000.

The council’s civic silver collection is valued at £1.7 million.

Feature on Huddersfield Art Gallery - Henry Moore's 'Fallen Warrior'.