Fight to keep painting of famous Rye playwright in England
A Rye tea room is involved in a appeal to keep a valuable portrait of a famous Rye playwright in this country.
The National Portrait Gallery is trying to raise funds to buy the only known life portrait of John Fletcher.
John Fletcher, the son of a Rye vicar, was born in the town in 1579, in the building that is now Fletchers House Tea Rooms in Lion Street.
He was one of the most successful and prolific playwrights of the Jacobean period.
Fletcher wrote three plays jointly with Shakespeare: Cardenio (now lost), The Famous History of the Life of King Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen. He also collaborated extensively with Francis Beaumont and others, and wrote on his own.
The portrait is on offer for 218,000, a substantially reduced price following tax remission. Following a grant from the Art Fund. The Gallery must raise the total through appeal by the deadline of January 20.
Fletcher's House is holding a grand draw tonight (Friday) to raise money toward the fund.
The draw includes original artwork by Captain Pugwash creator John Ryan.
John's wife Priscilla will conduct the draw at 7.30pm.
Pete Anderson, from Fletcher's House, said: "This is something which has strong Rye links and we are very keen to see the painting remain in the country."
The painting is seen as making a significant addition to the National Portrait Gallery's collection of Elizabethan and Jacobean writers.
While the artist is unidentified, it is a work of good quality, and is larger and more ostentatious in its presentation than portraits of Ben Jonson and Shakespeare, who came from humbler backgrounds.
The group of literary portraits from this era, including John Donne, Shakespeare and Jonson, is one of the most compelling in the Gallery's collections. If the portrait of Fletcher can be acquired, it will be hung as part of a special display celebrating the extraordinary achievement of writers of the period.
The portrait, which featured in the Gallery's 2006 exhibition, Searching for Shakespeare, shows Fletcher as a prosperous and well-dressed man with paper and pens, the tools of his trade.
Catherine MacLeod, Curator of 17th Century Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, said "The National Portrait Gallery's group of portraits of Elizabethan and Jacobean writers is one of the most significant and famous parts of the collection.
"John Fletcher was Shakespeare's collaborator and one of the most popular playwrights of his day, and this portrait would enable us to fill in an important gap in the story that we are currently able to tell about literature in this period.
"Literary portraits of this date are incredibly rare and the opportunity to acquire this fine painting is not to be missed.'
David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, said: 'We're delighted that our grant will help kick start the National Portrait Gallery's appeal to save this painting.
"Fletcher was among the stars of Jacobean theatre; most famous for his collaborations with Beaumont and Shakespeare. Though his plays are seldom performed today, he richly deserves his place in the English literary pantheon - and this sensitive portrait therefore belongs in the National Portrait Gallery, alongside those of his contemporaries, Shakespeare, Jonson and Donne."
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Monday 28 May 2012
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