Museum fails to meet price of Erasmus Darwin portrait
Coinciding with the events to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Birmingham entrepeneur Matthew Boulton, a painting of one of his closest friends is coming up for sale at Sotheby’s.
The portrait of Erasmus Darwin, physician, natural philosopher, inventor and poet, is by Joseph Wright, of Derby. Lichfield-based Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin, was a founder member of the Lunar Society, while Wright was the pre-eminent 18th century painter of scientific and industrial subjects.
The portrait, which is due to come up for auction on July 9, is expected to fetch more than £150,000.
That puts it out of the reach of Erasmus Darwin House, the museum and education facility devoted to Darwin in his home town. A copy of the Wright portrait already hangs there.
Alison Wallis, curator of Erasmus Darwin House, says: “The interest in this piece of work will be huge.
‘‘We’ve looked into finding a grant to support the purchase of the portrait but there is no way we can match it. Chances are it will end up leaving the country, which will be very sad for the museum”.
The painting would also sit well alongside the Boulton and Lunar Society material in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, which has only one small painting – of a firework display in Rome – by Wright.
But even if the portrait does end up going abroad (always subject to an export licence being granted) all is not lost for the West Midlands – there is another portrait of Darwin by Wright in Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Erasmus Darwin House is currently closed for refurbishment, but will have a grand reopening day, with free admission, on July 4.
