For months, the National Portrait Gallery in London raced to raise enough funds to buy the 1776 painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds Portrait of Mai. The aim was to keep in the country the historically significant work of art, which depicts one of the first Polynesians to visit Britain.
Today, the museum has found a way to acquire the painting, but only on the condition that it be regularly sent to the United States
The National Portrait Gallery has partnered with the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to jointly purchase Reynolds’ masterpiece, the two institutions announced today. They will effectively share the artwork, each having to pay half of its estimated £50 million ($62 million) price.
The unusual deal marks the first time that museums from the UK and US have teamed up on a single acquisition.
In a statement, Katherine Fleming, CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, which oversees the museum, called the deal “an innovative approach to ownership…that maximizes accessibility and visibility while placing Portrait of Mai in a rich and multifaceted transatlantic context.
Completed nearly 250 years ago, Reynolds’ painting depicts Mai (also known as Omai), a young Tahitian who sailed from his home country to England in 1774 with British explorer James Cook. It was created for “personal reasons”, rather than by commission, and remained in the artist’s studio until his death in 1792.
“The portrait is unique in British and global culture and yet has never been part of a museum collection. Now it has the potential to be in two, one facing the Pacific where Mai is from, and the other just yards from Reynolds’ studio, where it was painted,” National Portrait Gallery director Nicholas Cullinan said in a statement.
“For the gallery, it is important that this exceptional portrait is intended for the British public, and we will share it with other institutions across the country,” Cullinan continued. “This is a painting that should belong to all of us and we know it will mean a lot to our combined audiences, locally, nationally and globally.”
After Reynolds’ death, Portrait of Mai was acquired by Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle. It remained in Howard’s estate until 2001, when Dublin businessman and collector John Magnier bought it at a Sotheby’s auction for £10.3 million ( $12.4 million).
The artwork was valued at £50m ($60m) last year when Magnier applied for an export license to transport it overseas.
In an effort to give UK institutions the opportunity to purchase the prized painting, the UK Arts Minister imposed a temporary export ban. The expiration date of the ban has since been extended three times, including, most recently, earlier this month, when the deadline was moved to June 10.
The National Portrait Gallery originally intended to purchase Portrait of Mai single-handedly, and he launched an ambitious fundraising campaign to do so. The non-profit UK Art Fund has donated £2.5m ($3m) – the largest such grant in its history – and the National Heritage Memorial Fund has pledged £10m additional ($12 million). Meanwhile, an additional 1,500 people contributed to a open call for donations.
Yet by March 10 – the last day of the export ban, before its expiry date was extended again – the National Portrait Gallery had raised less than half of the £50million needed for the purchase.
The Getty Trust, a private organization, intervened and plans to match the contribution of the National Portrait Gallery. However, the acquisition has yet to be finalized and the latter museum still has less than £1 million ($1.2 million) to raise.
If the agreement materializes, the two institutions will periodically send Portrait of Mai back and forth, and neither will charge visitors money to see it. The painting is set to be displayed at the Getty in 2028, when Los Angeles hosts the Olympics.
“The complex artistic and historical issues raised by this painting will serve as the basis for a common research approach on the 18e-British portrait of the century involving exhibitions, lectures and technical investigations,” added Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “We sincerely hope that this acquisition and the resulting collaborations will inspire other innovative models for collecting, sharing and protecting artistic heritage across nations, cultures and peoples.”
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