Nation Set To Lose Out On Sir Joshua Reynolds' 'Portrait of Omai' Next Month
By Heloise Pinto
An export application submitted for Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Omai (c.1776) by its owner, Irish businessman John Magnier, was denied in March last year on the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest. The Committee agreed that Reynolds’ portrait fulfilled all three of the Waverley Criteria (the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s way of deciding whether or not an object is a national treasure and should remain in the UK), closely connecting it, officially, with the UK’s history and national life, an outstanding aesthetic importance and significance for the study of art, learning or history.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Omai (c.1776). Oil on Canvas. Image: Art Fund
The export bar was initially set to end in July 2022 but, because a ‘serious intention to raise funds’ was shown by The National Portrait Gallery as a potential purchaser, the Gallery was given until 10th March 2023 to find the £50 million demanded by the owner after an independent valuation by London art dealer Anthony Mould. This means that the portrait could be sold abroad imminently, into a private collection, and possibly never publicly displayed anywhere again. The website of the Art Fund – which has itself donated an ‘exceptional’ £2.5 million – reports that under half of the money has been raised so far. What would the likely loss of this extraordinary painting deny the nation?
Any work by Reynolds (1723-1792), internationally famous both now and in his own day, can be considered a valuable tool for education and worthy of inclusion in any collection which is accessible to the public. His celebrated works and his teachings at the Royal Academy (of which he was a founding member and the first president) exerted significant influence on art – particularly portraiture – in and beyond 18th century Britain, and are integral to its understanding and appreciation. This portrait, however, is exceptional even within this category and that of Reynolds’ wider body of work, because of whom it depicts – and how.
The subject’s real name was Mai. He was a young man when, in 1774, he joined Captain James Cook’s second voyage and travelled to Britain from his native Tahiti. The two years he spent here as one of this country’s earliest Polynesian visitors saw him travel it extensively, become a figure of celebrity, and meet its king, George III. A letter written by twenty historians, art historians and writers urging the government to endorse a fundraising campaign for the painting outlines the significance of what it reveals, through Reynolds’ idealising description and use of codes from the classical art of antiquity (themselves demonstrative of societal values and art historical developments at the time) about the history of British colonialism and the Pacific, scientific exploration, and attitudes in the Britain of this period towards non-Europeans. Its excellent condition – not always guaranteed for works by Reynolds – optimises the potential experience of study and inspection.
Lucy Ward described the National Portrait Gallery’s efforts to garner interest and support as ‘low-key, almost apologetic’ in The Guardian; a few lines on the website are all it seems to have offered the public, and its closure since spring 2020 has precluded its display during the fundraising period (at its St Martin’s Place galleries, at least), to which the owner agreed. An apparent reluctance to ask too conspicuously for money amidst economic hardship is understandable, but could also have amounted to a lack of awareness amongst those in a position to make a difference, and the waste of an opportunity, albeit temporary, for members of the public to see and learn about this painting before its potential disappearance.
Bibliography
Chesters, Laura. “Reynolds’ Portrait of Omai Given £50m Price Tag and Barred From Export for a Third Time”. Antiques Trade Gazette. 15.3.22. https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2022/reynolds-portrait-of-omai-given-50m-price-tag-and-barred-from-export-for-a-third-time/
Ward, Lucy. “This Glorious Portrait is Too Precious to be Lost From Our Shores For Ever”. The Guardian. 12.2.23. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/12/this-glorious-portrait-is-too-precious-a-treasure-to-be-lost-from-our-shores-for-ever
Wilson, John. “Row as Rarely Seen Reynolds Portrait is Set to go on Show – in Amsterdam”. The Guardian. 25.2.18
“Reynolds’ Portrait of Omai at Risk of Leaving UK”. Gov.uk. 11.3.22. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/reynolds-portrait-of-omai-at-risk-of-leaving-uk
“Letter: ‘Portrait of Omai’ is Unique and Must Remain in Britain”. Financial Times. 28.6.22. https://www.ft.com/content/c3480471-b9c8-4896-b7de-4c3b796cf735
“The Portrait of Omai”. National Portrait Gallery. https://www.npg.org.uk/support/the-portrait-of-omai
“Help Save Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Omai”. Art Fund. https://www.artfund.org/get-involved/campaigns/omai-portrait-appeal
“Export Controls on Objects of Cultural Interest”. Arts Council. March 2015. https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Export_criteria_March_2015.pdf
“RCEWA - Portrait of Omai, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Statement of the Expert Adviser to the Secretary of State that the Portrait Meets Waverley Criteria One, Two and Three”. Arts Council. file:///Users/heloisepinto/Downloads/Reviewing%20Committee%20Case%20hearing%20-%20Portrait%20of%20Omai%20by%20Sir%20Joshua%20Reynolds%20(1).pdf
“The Second Voyage of James Cook”. British Library. https://www.bl.uk/the-voyages-of-captain-james-cook/articles/the-second-voyage-of-james-cook