THE row between a North-East duke and the Government over one of the country's most important Renaissance art treasures has been resolved.

The National Gallery and The Duke of Northumberland yesterday announced they have finally agreed the sale of Madonna and Child by Raphael - known as the Madonna of the Pinks.

The news came as delighted staff at The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Dur-ham learned that the tiny painting will be going on display there from April 15 to June 26.

It will be the first time it has returned to the region for 13 years.

Amy Baker, the museum's curator of fine art, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to bits.

"Raphael is such a significant artist and the Madonna of the Pinks is a central painting."

The National Gallery paid £22m for the painting in a deal that will see the Duke exempt from paying tax on the sale.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell had placed an export ban on the artwork last year, when the duke threatened to sell it to the J Paul Getty Trust, in California, US, for £34,880,000.

National Gallery director Charles Saumarez Smith said both parties were delighted that "this extraordinarily beautiful, small painting" would stay in the UK.

"It helps to illuminate the early phase of Raphael's career and ensures that a picture of exceptional tenderness remains to be enjoyed and appreciated both on tour and as part of the National Gallery's great collection."

The painting has been on loan from Alnwick Castle to the National Gallery for the past 13 years.

The sale ends months of rows and speculation that the painting was not a Raphael original.

The National Gallery raised nearly half the money through public donations, plus an £11.5m grant from the Heritage Lottery fund and £400,000 from the National Art Collection fund.

The duke's company, Northumberland Estates, will invest the cash in heritage restoration and landscape projects.

The duke said: "This sale will create funds to generate a yearly income and allow us to continue to invest in the North-East for the long term.

"I am glad that we have reached an agreement and especially pleased that the painting, which the 4th Duke acquired in 1853, will now remain in the UK."