The public has spoken by digging into its wallet and J.M.W. Turner's famed watercolour The Blue Rigi will now remain in the U.K. following a high profile fundraising appeal.

Britain's Tate gallery announced on Thursday that Turner's masterpiece has been "saved for the nation" thanks to financial grants and thousands of donations from members of the public worldwide to its "buy a brushstroke" campaign.

J.M.W. Turner's The Blue Rigi: Lake of Lucerne, Sunrise will stay in the U.K.
(Christie's)

The painting, which the Tate Britain is currently displaying alongside Turner's The Red Rigi and The Dark Rigi, is part of a series the artist completed in the 1840s depicting Switzerland's Rigi Mountains near Lake Lucerne. The works are considered among Turner's finest.

Last June, The Blue Rigi: Lake of Lucerne, Sunrise sold to an overseas collector for £5.8 million (about $12.3 million) after a bidding war at Christie's auction house in London. The sale set a new record for the highest price ever paid for a British watercolour.

In the fall, U.K. Culture Minister David Lammy temporarily banned the canvas from leaving the country, thus allowing institutions in the British art community to attempt to buy the painting.

This January, U.K. art charity The Art Fund and the Tate — already home to a priceless collection of Turner's works — launched a campaign to purchase the painting from its unnamed owner for £4.95 million (nearly $11.4 million). The price was reduced because the gallery will not have to pay taxes on the purchase.

The online appeal, which was set to end March 20, invited art lovers to essentially donate £5 (about $11.50) to "buy a brushstroke" of The Blue Rigi. British artists who took part included David Hockney, Peter Blake and Anish Kapoor.

The appeal was likely inspired by the success London's National Gallery had last year in raising public funds to buy a portrait of John Donne.

In the end, the Tate contributed £2 million, the National Heritage Memorial Fund gave close to £2 million, the public donations amounted to £550,000 and the Art Fund ponied up £500,000 of the total.