LONDON—The National Heritage Fund is contributing £10 million ($15 million) to Britain’s campaign to buy a £50 million Titian painting and keep it in the country, reports Bloomberg. The donation marks the highest thus far, beating the Art Fund's recent donation of £1 million toward the campaign.

The National Gallery in London and the National Galleries of Scotland have been in a flurry to raise the appropriate funds for Titian's Diana and Actaeon before the December 31 deadline. “This has completely transformed the campaign,” said National Gallery Director Nicholas Penny. “Previously, I was pretending to be optimistic. Now I am genuinely optimistic.” Penny went on to speak of other donors who are prepared to give but not ready to disclose their gifts yet. The benefactors do not have to complete payment until three years later.

Several prominent artists have spoken out in support of keeping the painting in the country, including abstract painter Bridget Riley, who praised Titian as “the great color painter.” “You would have no Cézanne, you would have no Monet, you would have no Delacroix without Titian,” she said. She is one of 60 artists, along with Lucian Freud and David Hockney, who wrote a collective letter to the Times (London) calling for the painting to be saved.