A peer has warned he may have to sell a family heirloom to save his country pile.

Anthony Brand, the sixth Viscount Hampden, owns Glynde Place, near Lewes.

In a letter to a national newspaper, he wrote that spiralling costs to repair the Grade I-listed building could force him to sell a Renaissance-style sketch, currently on display at the National Gallery, London.

His revelation came after the Duke of Northumberland was criticised for selling Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks to the Getty Museum.

Lord Hampden said: "It is quite possible my family and trustees will come to the conclusion that, with costs like this, it is a nonsense to have between 15 and 20 per cent of the family wealth tied up in an asset that provides absolutely nothing either financially or aesthetically.

"Should that realisation be made in my lifetime, I would follow the Duke's example."

Three years ago, £400,000 was spent on repairs to the east wing roof, with English Heritage meeting half the cost.

This year, a similar sum will have to be found to repair the west wing roof, without the financial backing of English Heritage.

The original sketch for the ceiling of the Banqueting House in Whitehall, The Apotheosis of King James I, by Peter Paul Rubens, has been in the family for the last 20 years.

The exact value of the painting has not been revealed.

Lord Hampden said the varying temperature of the building meant the sketch would be unlikely to survive at his country home.

He said: "I visit the gallery two or three times a year, partly because it is the best way of spending an hour in London that I know of, and partly to look at my family's picture.

"I get enormous pleasure knowing it is seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and studied by thousands of art historians and students.

"It is unlikely it will return as, being painted on board, it would be unable to cope with the changes of temperature and humidity in this house."

Glynde Place was built in 1569 around a central courtyard.

The house attracts about 3,000 visitors a year in the summer when Lord Hampden, who inherited the title from a distant cousin in 1975, acts as a tour guide.