Mr Mosscrop, who was born in Lancashire but lives in London, said he was thrilled to be among them.He leaves college in July and the money will now pay for a studio for five years.Rosemary Harris, who chaired the judging panel and is a former curator at the Tate Gallery in London, said it had been a very difficult decision to select the winner.”One of the things about Max’s work was it combined both painting skills and doing something quite different in innovation. Conservationists have made a breakthrough in captive breeding techniques which could secure its survival. It had been thought that the spider, whose mother makes the ultimate sacrifice of feeding herself to her young, had become extinct in its British haunts on the Isle of Wight, Dorset and Cornwall. Things are looking up for the cannibalistic ladybird spider, one of the rarest and most colourful in Britain.

The auction of the collection of Wall Street financier John Loeb lived up to expectations with a record price for a Toulouse-Lautrec and near- records for Cezanne and Manet.. In addition to being exhibited, the 10 other shortlisted artists also receive pounds 1,000.Much of the inspiration for the prize came from Lord Alexander of Weedon, chairman of the NatWest Group since 1989.n The most important single-owner collection of Impressionist and post- Impressionist paintings of recent years was sold for $92.8m (pounds 57.5m) yesterday. His work is as much to do with architecture as painting.”The prize was set up six years by NatWest to encourage innovation and technical skills in younger painters. Mr Mosscrop, who originally trained as an architect, said: “I think it’s a shame that there’s this great opposition made between painting and installation and conceptual work. I think it’s a bit petty.”His works are displayed with the 10 other shortlisted artists at NatWest’s new Lothbury Gallery in the City of London. Max Mosscrop, 34, had been wondering how he was going to afford a studio at the end of his studies when he scooped the NatWest Arts Prize of pounds 26,000 yesterday.

He beat a record 700 entries for the award which is for artists under the age of 35 who concentrate on painting and drawing.
Interest in the competition has been seen as part of a renaissance in painting after the rash of video, sculpture and installation work as epitomised by artists such as Damien Hirst and his dead-animal works.However, the winner played down these divisions. A student at the Royal College of Art has won Britain’s richest arts prize only weeks before his final degree show. He was yesterday telling callers he could not disclose the nature of Ms McIntosh’s illness, only that she had left the office already “and gone away to recuperate” Ms McIntosh was unavailable for comment.. “But the chairman said that she is ill and this job is very stressful for anyone who is not completely fit.”Keith Cooper, the company’s director of corporate affairs, insists there has been no coup. None the less, they were taken aback by her sudden departure. The decision was taken only on Friday and members of the board were contacted by Lord Chadlington by telephone over the weekend to sanction the appointment of Ms Allen.

“It is a tremendous disappointment because Jenny has done so well,” said one director, the composer Michael Berkeley. She takes up her new post in September.Friends say that Ms McIntosh had lost weight recently. No wonder people think it is a coup.”Ms McIntosh’s successor is to be Mary Allen, secretary of the Arts Council. Her arrival reunites her with Lord Chadlington, who was chairman of the Arts Council’s Lottery board when it awarded pounds 78m to the Opera House. Ms Allen, who has no experience running a major theatre, administered the grant. “And it is striking that the press release announcing her departure also contains news of her successor. The animus was evident during the new season press conference, when it was eventually held.”Lord Chadlington repeatedly interrupted her and dealt with her in a generally patronising matter,” said one observer.