Bath Preservation Trust acquires four Thomas Gainsborough paintings of the Tugwell family

Bath Preservation Trust has successfully acquired four Thomas Gainsborough paintings of the Tugwell family under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme. They will go on public display for the first time in September at No.1 Royal Crescent.

The four portraits will be celebrated in Being There, an exhibition that also features contemporary portraiture by 18 British artists working today. The exhibition in The Gallery at No.1 Royal Crescent will be open to the public from 14 September 2024 to 23 February 2025. Once the exhibition closes the paintings will be integrated into the future development of the historic house Museum.

Image: Elizabeth Tugwell by Thomas Gainsborough, credit Dan Weill

Thomas Gainsborough was commissioned by a prosperous provincial manufacturer in around 1760 to undertake this group of four portraits. They depict clothier, Humphrey Tugwell, his wife, Elizabeth and sons William and Thomas. The Tugwells were prominent figures in the life of Bradford on Avon, where Humphrey Tugwell owned a dye house, mill and pin factory. The Wiltshire town is only six miles from the city of Bath, where Gainsborough established himself permanently in 1760.

Image: Humphrey Tugwell by Thomas Gainsborough, credit Dan Weill

The four portraits, still in their original carved Carlo Maratta frames, have remained with the sitters’ descendants and have never previously been sold. Bath Preservation Trust has been allocated the portraits for display at No.1 Royal Crescent through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme.

Image: Thomas Tugwell by Thomas Gainsborough, credit Dan Weill 

Dr Amy Frost, Senior Curator for Bath Preservation Trust said: “It is exceptionally rare for a set of four portraits of members of the same family by Thomas Gainsborough to survive together. Rarer still is the fact that the sitters are not aristocratic visitors to fashionable Bath, but middle-class manufacturers from a small West Country town. This set of Gainsborough  portraits are remarkable for capturing two generations of a wealthy, upwardly mobile manufacturing family. Few comparable sets of portraits by Gainsborough  survive, making these pre-eminent depictions of middle-class sitters and ones with strong local significance to the story of Bath and Bradford on Avon. This is a highly significant acquisition for No.1 Royal Crescent, and we eagerly look forward to sharing these with the public.”

Image: William Tugwell by Thomas Gainsborough, credit Dan Weill

Patrizia Ribul, Director of Museums for Bath Preservation Trust said: “Thomas Gainsborough would have been living in Bath at the time he undertook the Tugwell commissions, so it is fantastic that we now have the opportunity to display them here in the heart of the city. It is a very exciting year for all of our museums here at Bath Preservation Trust. No.1 Royal Crescent is launching its first temporary exhibition since the pandemic; the Museum of Bath Architecture reopened on 30 March; Beckford’s Tower reopened on 29 June following a £3.9million refurbishment; and the Herschel Museum of Astronomy is undergoing consultation on potential redevelopment.”

Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant MP said: “Thomas Gainsborough is one of the titans of British art, so it is only right that these portraits by him are displayed in the city he once called home.

"Thanks to the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, this acquisition will allow No.1 Royal Crescent to display the artworks, giving access to these historic portraits for residents and visitors to Bath for the first time. Their delicacy, sensitivity and vibrancy are a delight. It is as if the sitters are in the room with you.”

Michael Clarke CBE, Acceptance in Lieu Panel, said: ‘I am delighted that these four portraits of Humphrey Tugwell and members of his family by Thomas Gainsborough have been allocated to the Bath Preservation Trust for display at The Royal Crescent, Bath through the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme.  Gainsborough was one of the greatest English portrait painters and based himself in fashionable Bath from 1759 to 1773. Tugwell was a highly successful merchant in nearby Bradford-on-Avon and made an important contribution to the development of the cloth trade in that town. These portraits of Tugwell, his wife, and two of their children will greatly enhance the collection at No.1 Royal Crescent. They demonstrate the major role played by the AIL Scheme in securing works of art for public collections around the country. I hope that this allocation encourages others to use the Scheme and to continue to support our national collections.’

The provenance of the suite of Tugwell paintings is as follows:

• Commissioned by Humphrey Tugwell in circa 1760
• William Tugwell (1742-1774), son of the above
• Elizabeth Tugwell (d.1847), daughter of the above who married Sir William Coles Medlycott (1767-1835)
• Sir William Coles Medlycott (1806-1882)
• Sir William Coles Paget Medlycott (1831-1887)
• Rev. Sir Hubert James Medlycott (1841-1920)
• Sir Hubert Mervyn Medlycott (1874-1964)
• Sir James Christopher Medlycott (1907-1986)
• Sir Mervyn Tegonwell Medlycott (1947-2021)

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For more information about the Acceptance in Lieu scheme and Arts Council England please contact Arts Council England’s communications team at: duty.press@artscouncil.org.uk.