Digital Editions
Newsletters
Subscribe
Digital Editions
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Acquisitions
news

UK fails to save painting of 'paramount importance' as Getty export licence is granted

Recently rediscovered 18th-century work by artist Joseph Wright of Derby was bought by the Los Angeles museum in March last year

Gareth Harris
20 January 2020
Share
Joseph Wright of Derby's Two Boys with a Bladder (around 1769-70) Courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust

Joseph Wright of Derby's Two Boys with a Bladder (around 1769-70) Courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust

A major work by the 18th-century artist Joseph Wright of Derby, Two Boys with a Bladder (1769-70), will leave the UK for the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles after a bid to keep it in the country failed.

The government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport placed an export bar on the work last October, saying that “the painting, competed between 1768 and 1770, is valued at £3.5m plus VAT, and is at risk of being lost abroad unless a UK buyer is found”. The arts minister Helen Whately hoped that a buyer could be found to “save this masterpiece so it can be studied and put on public display”. But Arts Council England said that no offer to purchase the painting had been made.

The work was purchased by the Getty Museum at the Tefaf fair in Maastricht last March from the London-based gallery Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd. The Los Angeles-based museum owns two other works by the artist. “We look forward to sharing this spectacular painting with our visitors and scholars in the context of our other 18th-century collections,” says Timothy Potts, the director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, in a statement.

The painting shows two young boys lit by a concealed candle inflating a pig’s bladder (animal bladders were popular toys in the 18th century). The work, part of a series of candlelight paintings by the artist, is thought to have been painted as a pendant to Two Girls Dressing a Kitten by Candlelight (around 1768–70), which is in the collection of Kenwood House in London. Wright experimented with gold and silver foil in the candlelight works, placing it under the paint to give a shimmering effect.

AcquisitionsMuseum acquisitionsExport policiesArt lawJoseph Wright of Derby
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Instagram
Bluesky
LinkedIn
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
© The Art Newspaper

Related content

Acquisitionsnews
26 December 2022

Nativity scene by Renaissance master saved from leaving the UK

Rare work by Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi, valued at £277,990, will go on show at Ulster Museum

Gareth Harris
Acquisitionsnews
6 July 2018

London’s National Gallery acquires painting by Artemisia Gentileschi for £3.6m

Piece by Italian Baroque painter was sold in Paris last year for €2.4m

Gareth Harris