THE Ashmolean Museum is to seek another six days to raise £7.83m to save Manet ’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus for the nation.

The museum’s campaign was due to close yesterday, with the export ban stopping the Impressionist masterpiece going abroad ending on August 7.

But with the museum agonizingly close to the total – still requiring a further £250,000 after a late flurry of donations – the museum’s director Dr Christopher Brown said the Ashmolean was not prepared to give up on its once-in-a-lifetime chance to secure a Manet for Oxford.

Dr Brown, pictured, said: “We have had a wonderful response from the public with donations made every day in the past few weeks, and we will continue to welcome any donations made before Monday.

“We are now in talks with individual donors for the remaining £250,000 needed towards the total cost of £7.83m.

“Manet’s portrait is of outstanding significance to the study of Impressionist painting and we are doing all that we can to keep it in this country in a free museum where it can be enjoyed by future generations.”

The painting has already been sold to a foreign buyer for £28.35m. But under a private treaty sale, with tax remission, approved public bodies are able to secure the painting for Oxford at a fraction of its real cost.