“Omai [by Sir #JoshuaReynolds] may vanish, partly because no one stood up early enough & fought for it. We need an informed debate about what national treasures mean to us & how far we will go to save them.” First I’d heard. Which is precisely the article’s point.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/12/this-glorious-portrait-is-too-precious-a-treasure-to-be-lost-from-our-shores-for-ever

Joshua Reynolds’s 1782 portrait of Charles Stanhope, held by the Yale Center for British Art, was exhibited for over 200 years with no mention of the Black boy pictured to Stanhope’s left. Now, thanks to some impressive research, the boy’s identity — Marcus Thomas — has been revealed and is included in the painting’s title.

Read how they did it: https://britishart.yale.edu/naming-marcus

#yale #YaleCenterForBritishArt #YaleArt #YaleArtMuseum #YaleBritishArtMuseum #YCBA #Reynolds #JoshuaReynolds #ArtHistory

@artbot
Sir #JoshuaReynolds
#Dante
#DivineComedy #Inferno