Art sold to support Catholic school rocked by child sex abuse inquiry
A leading Catholic boarding school has sold off Renaissance paintings to raise money in the wake of a damning child sex abuse report which led to spiralling legal costs.
The centuries-old Downside Abbey School in Somerset boasts illustrious alumni from peers to Hollywood actors, but the attached Benedictine community was the subject of a 2018 report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
At IICSA's urging the school and monastic community were separated last year in the aftermath of revelations of historic abuse by some monks, a move which led to “extraordinarily high” costs and helped create a net deficit of £660,000.
The £11,000-per-term school, which boasts journalist Auberon Waugh and actor Jared Harris among its Old Gregorian alumni, also faces repair bills for the Grade II listed historic buildings that it occupies, and has reported a recent drop in pupil numbers.
Renaissance artworks gifted to the Abbey in the past by aristocratic donors have been auctioned off by Sotheby's for more than £400,000 to help support the school which was the scene of abuse for 40 years.
Representatives of Downside Abbey General Trust said: “Monks want to do everything they can to help the School and want to ensure that it has enough cash reserves to thrive and develop.”
According to Companies House documents the organisation incurred “very high legal costs” to establish the school as a charitable company, which had a “detrimental effect” on its finances and created a deficit.
Under the hammer at Sotheby’s a Bernardo Zenale depiction of St John the Baptist fetched the highest sum, with £225,000 raised to boost school capital. Ten painting in total were offered by the Downside Abbey General Trust, with seven sold in total to bring in £463,125.
In 2018 IICSA detailed abuse at Downside in Stratton-on-the-Fosse that dated back to the 1960’s and involved pupils as young as eleven. The inquiry also looked at abuse at Ampleforth in North Yorkshire.
It heard evidence that one leading monk at Downside from 2014 to 2018 may have burned potential evidence of abuse in bonfires of old school files, and that allegations against monks were covered up.
Ten people, including monks, connected to the two institutions have been convicted or cautioned for abuse.
Representatives of Downside Abbey General Trust, which now oversees the monastery but not the school, said: “As we transform from one organisation to two, assets will be distributed according to the needs of each which is an essential part of the process of setting up two separate trusts.”
