Crowds of tourists and inquisitive locals poured into central Edinburgh yesterday to examine the £300million masterpieces that could soon be lost to the nation.

Unfortunately, that made them the first visitors to experience a taste of the National Gallery of Scotland without Diana & Actaeon and Diana & Callisto.

As the campaign to save them started in earnest after months of secret negotiations, the two monumental works by the Renaissance painter Titian were cordoned off from close-up public view and monopolised by television news crews.

Instead the crowds were treated to the sight of a modern artist with much of Titian's current fame, if not his revered status, appealing for a public whip-round. Tracey Emin, whose own retrospective is showing at the National Gallery of Modern Art in the city, said that the public could find the £50 million required for the first of the paintings. “The British, Scottish, Irish and the Welsh people should get together and buy them. It would be a pound each. The price of a packet of biscuits. Tomorrow, if ten million people put in a fiver, we're covered. It's not that much. It just depends what people's priorities are. People shouldn't confuse spending on hospitals and education with art and culture and sport. It comes from completely different pockets.”

Times Archive, 1933: The Bridgewater Titians

'Actaeon' is the most complete and satisfying of the paintings, as it is the one that has suffered least by time

• The conservation of pictures

• Picture: The vapour chamber used by Mr Kennedy North for the conservation of Titian's painting, Diana and Actaeon

Related Links

• Shy countryman inherited a treasure trove

• Four months to save £300m masterpieces

• Nation must grab bargain by sensual master

The Duke of Sutherland has promised to sell a “significant part” of his collection of Old Master paintings, of which the two Titians are the crowning glory. The Bridgewater collection, the finest group of Old Masters in private hands, has been on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland for 63 years. It also includes works by Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens, Tintoretto and Poussin.

Soaring inflation in the global art market has left the Duke with too high a proportion of his money invested in art and he has been advised to diversify. The two paintings have been offered to the country at a discount; experts have suggested that on the open market they could be worth three times the £100million for which he is asking.

The National Gallery in London and the National Galleries of Scotland are halving the fundraising and, they hope, the eventual ownership of the paintings. They have been sounding out possible public and private donors behind closed doors for months but no sums have been pledged.

Nicholas Penny, the director of the National Gallery in London, said: “It's a psychological thing. To make the sort of special donations that we will need, people need to know that there's no one else to whom you can appeal.”

Negotiations started several months ago with the Art Fund, a public body that takes private contributions, while the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) has also been approached. A spokesman for the NHMF said last night that it had about £3.6million left in its budget for this year but could in exceptional circumstances call on an endowment of about £30 million. The National Gallery also has its own endowment, controlled by the American Friends of the National Gallery.

Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, has asked the Treasury for a grant and in Scotland the administration at Holyrood has promised financial support. A spokeswoman said: “Scottish ministers are determined to do everything they can to ensure that this world-class collection remains on view for the enjoyment of the public in this country. The National Galleries of Scotland has been given a significant funding pledge from Scottish ministers around which to build its fundraising campaign. A precise figure will be confirmed in due course.”

Giles Waterfield, a veteran of previous acquisition battles during his time as a trustee of the NHMF and the Heritage Lottery Fund, believes that the campaign will succeed. “I think they will keep them, but it will be a lot of hard work,” he said.

Arguments raged across the country over whether handing over the lion's share of £100million to one of Britain's wealthiest men for two oil paintings was an appropriate use of public money.

Despite their frustration at not getting closer to the Titians, most of the visitors to the National Gallery of Scotland yesterday felt that it was. Antonio Esdrela, a surgeon from Santarém in Portugal, said that the Titians alone would draw him into the gallery. “This is beautiful art and this is a great museum. The Government should help to pay for the paintings,” he said.

Neil Baird, on a caravan holiday from Gateshead, agreed. He said: “It's a different argument than health or education. It's about something that's good for all of us. As a society we need more than a payslip. Great art is good for your head.”

Bridgewater collection

Paintings on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland include

Gerard Ter Borch: A Singing Practice. Dutch School: An Old Lady Wearing a Ruff. Sir Anthony Van Dyck: Portrait of a Young Man. Hobbema: Landscape with a View of the Bergkerk, Deventer; Nicolas Poussin: Moses Striking the Rock,

The Sacraments. Raphael: The Holy Family with a Palm Tree and The Bridgewater Madonna. Raphael and Studio: The Madonna del Passeggio. After Raphael: The Madonna with the Veil; Rembrandt: Self-Portrait, aged 51. Studio of Rembrandt: A Young Woman with Flowers in her Hair and Hannah and Samuel. Follower of Rembrandt: A Study of a Man's Head. Tintoretto: Portrait of a Venetian. Titian: The Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist and an unidentified Male Saint, The Three Ages of Man, Diana & Actaeon and Diana & Callisto.

Rubens: Mercury bearing Psyche in his arms to Olympus. Bonifazio Veronese: The Madonna and Child with the Infant Baptist, Saint Joseph in the Distance Drawing

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of 2008
• Hitler and the Downfall mash-ups
• Britney Spears: The Circus