The Friends of Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery (FPCMAG) and Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery (PCMAG) have embarked on purchasing two items of Sir Joshua Reynolds, a first self portrait of the painter at the age of twenty three and a Roman Sketchbook which the painter compiled whilst visiting Italy during 1750-1752. The reason for purchasing the items is to prevent them vanishing from the UK and more importantly from Devon. These items are part of the heritage of Plymouth and more so of Plympton where Reynolds was born. It is imperative the items are housed at the PCMAG for eventual showing to the general public, both local and those further afield, as it is the most suitable custodian for them. The Friends see this purchase as a clear indicator of Plymouth's cultural objectives. It also brings us more rapidly towards the preparation to become a focal point of distinction, for the study of Reynolds and his early career.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is supporting the purchase with 65% of the total cost providing we get through the two bidding stages. Other outside bodies such as the Art Fund and the V&A will cover almost the rest of the fund-raising for this project, as long as we get approval from them. The Friends has also got to raise £10,000 as our share of the fund-raising to satisfy the HLF, and with the kindness of Delamore Arts who has bought the charity wristbands now on sale for the Friends, this is certainly a great step forward to achieve our goal. By hitting the donate button below, you will be able to donate to the fundraising or just send a cheque made out to: Reynolds A Journey To Genius and forward it to: Mr Alan Butler Hon. Treasurer FPCMAG, 5 Saunders Walk, Southway, Plymouth PL6 6NZ
News just in: We have been successful with the two other bids - The Art Fund is giving us £63,000 and the V&A are holding £30,000 towards the cost of the two items. We put in the second application to the HLF in November. Also I can tell you we have now achieved well over half of our Friends fundraising, in fact over £6,000,so we need to get more donations in by the end of the year. Hopefully, with extra help from the Friends and the general public I am confident we shall reach our goal. Thank you.
