Art-loving teacher who lived in bungalow in North Yorkshire village leaves nearly £7m to gallery - 22 years after her death

Martha Bailey, who lived in Hutton Rudby, near Stokesley in North Yorkshire, left land in her will to the gallery in Trafalgar Square, London, following her death in 2000 at the age of 92.

However there was one stipulation - that the land couldn't be sold until it had gained planning permission for housing.

This has finally happened after “years of tussling” with the council, and the majority of the land has been sold to a housebuilder for £6.75m.

Mrs Bailey, who reportedly lived in "quasi-modest circumstances" in a three-bedroomed bungalow, owned 65 acres near Stockton-upon-Tees.

Her late husband Richard Bailey had been a housebuilder and the trustees of her will had been left a farm upon trust to sell, the National Gallery said.

They were given the power to postpone the sale for a period no longer than 80 years until they'd gained planning permission to develop the land for housing.

Mrs Bailey’s will also stipulated that the proceeds could only be spent on buying paintings for the national collection.

The National Gallery said Mrs Bailey had been introduced to Neil MacGregor, who was director from 1987 to 2002.

It said: "Following her death in 2000, the Gallery was touched to learn of her bequest.

"The first tranche of her gift helped make possible the acquisition of Menzel’s Afternoon in the Tuileries Gardens in 2006.

"With receipt of the second tranche this year, 22 years after her passing, she continues to play an important role in the development of the national collection.

"We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the late Mrs Martha Doris and Mr Richard Hillman Bailey for their generosity and foresight, as well as all those who have left a gift in their will to the National Gallery.”

The Sunday Times reported that Mrs Bailey's 10 godchildren were left £5,000 each in the will.

It said also reported her executor John Wilson - who was one of only two people at her funeral - described as a "very genteel" lady who "never bought anything for herself".

Mr Wilson told the newspaper that there was still the rest of the land to sell, and once that took place, the National Gallery would again receive a "substantial cheque".

He said the previous bequest of the painting by Adolph Menzel, a leading German artist of the second half of the 19th century, was a “love story” and Mrs Bailey had wanted to immortalise her husband by endowing it to the gallery.

The painting, executed by Menzel in 1867, is thought to have been inspired by another of the National Gallery's paintings, Manet's 'Music in the Tuileries Gardens', painted just five years earlier.

Hutton Rudby has a population of around 1,500 and one pub, the Wheatsheaf Inn. It has previously been home to home to Paul Gascoigne and Fabrizio Ravanelli, when they were playing for Middlesbrough Football Club.