The work had already been on loan for the past four years.The painting was finally secured with the help of a £14,000 grant from the National Art Collections Fund charity and money from the Resource V&A/Purchase Grant Fund.Wendy Hitchmough, the curator, said: “Sickert influenced the work of both Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. They both admired his work.”The painting is a portrait of Maurice Villain, aged about five, who is thought to be the artist’s illegitimate son. “It’s very unusual, very powerful, very haunting; not a pretty picture,” Dr Hitchmough said.. Northern Ireland is pre-paring for the annual loyalist marching season with a mixture of hope for a reasonably quiet time and apprehension that the parades could easily aggravate disputes.The police and Army will at several points be at full stretch policing the 3,000-plus loyalist parades all over Northern Ireland in July and August.
The first severe test of whether disorder is to be expected will come on Sunday when Orangemen in the Co Armagh town of Portadown gather at the parish church of Drumcree.

For the fifth year in succession they have been forbidden to walk along the Catholic Garvaghy Road.While the Drumcree dispute almost led to a breakdown of law and order in 1996, it has faded as a big issue, with local Orangemen fatalistically having to accept the ban has become as traditional as the march.The issue has also settled down in most parts of Northern Ireland, though everyone is uneasily aware the potential remains for dangerous flare-ups, with local clashes prone to spreading to other districts.The overall picture is that in recent years the Orange Order has generally lost on the question of contentious marches. Catholic residents groups have prevailed with their argument that loyalists should not march where they are not wanted.This represents a huge change in the political landscape. It contrasts remarkably with the pattern, which prevailed until the mid-Nineties, that loyalist marches usually got through.The new situation can be attributed to the growth of the Catholic population’s numbers and assertiveness, and to a lack of flexibility on the part of the Orange Order. In particular, the order’s refusal to enter dialogue with Catholics has proved fatal to its attempts to march in disputed areas.The last Drumcree march to be let through was in 1997. Similarly, years have passed since a parade was allowed through the Catholic Lower Ormeau district of south Belfast. Such decisions are made by the Parades Commission, set up by the Government to adjudicate on marching disputes.

The commission lays great emphasis on the need for dialogue between residents and marchers, encouraging them to reach agreed solutions.The Orange Order, particularly in Portadown, refuses to talk directly to Catholics or the commission, which means the commission’s decisions steadily go against it. The order disapproves of the commission’s existence, and has tried other means to get its way, such as direct approaches to Tony Blair.At one point, the order hoped that European human rights law would support its cause. But in similar disputes in other countries, European judges almost invariably ruled in favour of residents rather than marchers.The order continues to make the tactical mistake of elevating opposition to dialogue to almost its central principle. In doing so, it continually stokes the suspicion that, at root, its marches are an assertion of Protestant supremacy over nationalists.Spirited efforts by an international mediator, Brian Currin of South Africa, were unsuccessful, with the Portadown Orangemen holding fast to their anti-dialogue position.