An Academy by Lamplight by Joseph Wright of Derby has been issued with a temporary export ban. The painting which depicts students gathered around a classical marble sculpture, exhibited in 1769, was sold at Sotheby's in December 2017. The ban will now allow a British gallery or museum the opportunity to buy the painting, but the challenge is considerable, as the required sum would be close to £7.5m (£6.3m) to prevent the work leaving the country. Art minister Michael Ellis said “Wright is one of the most pre-eminent painters of the age of enlightenment".
An Academy by Lamplight by Joseph Wright of Derby has been issued with a temporary export ban. The painting which depicts students gathered around a classical marble sculpture, exhibited in 1769, was sold at Sotheby's in December 2017. The ban will now allow a British gallery or museum the opportunity to buy the painting, but the challenge is considerable, as the required sum would be close to £7.5m ($10.23m) to prevent the work leaving the country. Art minister Michael Ellis said “Wright is one of the most pre-eminent painters of the age of enlightenment".