Online museum showcases Britain's hidden art

LONDON (AFP) - Britain has some of the best galleries in the world, but the vast majority of the oil paintings in public ownership have for decades been hidden away in private offices or storage. Until now.

By the end of the year, 210,000 paintings will have been dusted off and photographed for inclusion in a ground-breaking online museum, accessible to members of the public at just a click of a button.

"The UK has a very large collection of oil paintings in public ownership and about 80 per cent are not on view," said Mr Andy Ellis, the director of the Public Catalogue Foundation which has organised the project with the BBC.

In one of the most ambitious art projects in the world, curators have spent ten years tracking down publicly owned paintings by 45,000 artists from every corner of Britain, from the Shetlands to the Channel Islands.