An Academy by Lamplight by Joseph Wright of Derby was sold to an overseas buyer for £7.46 million at Sotheby’s ichael Bowles/Getty Images for Sotheby'sA masterpiece from the Age of Enlightenment by one of Britain’s most celebrated painters is at risk of leaving the country after being sold by the owners of a stately home. Ministers have placed an temporary export bar on An Academy by Lamplight by Joseph Wright of Derby, which hung for decades at Somerleyton Hall, Suffolk. The painting was purchased by an overseas buyer in an auction at Sotheby’s last year and will be lost to the UK unless a British purchaser can match the price tag of £7.46 million. It was acquired by Sir Savile Crossley, 1st Baron Somerleyton, the scion of a carpet manufacturing dynasty, but put up for sale by the present Lord Somerleyton , the fourth baron. The family hope to…

Source: The Times May 02, 2018 10:52 UTC