THE Provost of Worcester College has scotched rumours that it received £10m for selling a 17th century Dutch painting.

Professor Jonathan Bate told the Oxford Mail that a report in the Sunday Times was “pure guesswork” and said the amount of money the Oxford University college received - which will retrospectively fund 120 new student rooms at the north end of its site - was confidential.

The painting is called Edge of a Forest with a Grain Field and is painted by Jacob van Ruisdael.

It has been bought by the Kimbell Art Museum in the USA, having previously hung in the Provost’s Lodgings.