The innovative collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery and Getty to jointly acquire Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (Omai) has been successful.
The National Portrait Gallery has raised £25 million which, thanks in huge part to a grant of £10m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, an Art Fund grant of £2.5m, together with a matching amount from Getty in the US, makes up the £50m needed to acquire the painting.
The National Portrait Gallery and Art Fund’s fundraising campaign has been made possible thanks to an extraordinary collaborative effort, including:
- An exceptional grant of £10m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, one of its most significant awards for saving a heritage treasure for the UK
- An Art Fund grant of £2.5m, the largest in its history
- Major contributions were also received from The Portrait Fund, the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation and Julia and Hans Rausing, and support also came from the Idan and Batia Ofer Family Foundation and David & Emma Verey Charitable Trust, as well as many other generous trusts, foundations and individuals.
- Donations from over 2,000 Art Fund members, National Portrait Gallery supporters and members of the public, giving gifts of all sizes
The shared ownership of the work and strategic partnership between the National Portrait Gallery and Getty is the result of an innovative model of international collaboration that enables and maximizes public access to the work in perpetuity. The two institutions will share the painting for public exhibition, research and conservation care.
The painting will first be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery when it reopens on 22 June, following a major transformation project and will later be shown at other institutions across the UK. Mai will travel periodically between the two countries, sharing time equally between them. The first Getty presentation will be in 2026, including the period when Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympic Games.
Sir Joshua Reynolds’ spectacular Portrait of Mai (Omai) holds a pivotal place in global art history, depicting the first Polynesian to visit Britain, and is widely regarded as the finest portrait by one of Britain’s greatest artists. Known as “Omai” in England, Mai (ca. 1753-1779) was a native of Raiatea, an island now part of French Polynesia, who traveled from Tahiti to England with Captain James Cook. He spent the years 1774-76 in London, where he was received by royalty and the intellectual elite, and indeed became something of a celebrity. Mai returned to his homeland in 1777 and died there two years later.
The National Portrait Gallery would like to thank the former owners for their co-operation in this process, and Christie’s for their support in the negotiations.
Support for the campaign also came from leading artists Sir Antony Gormley, Rebecca Salter and Richard Deacon and historians Simon Schama, David Olusoga and Simon Sebag-Montefiore. Artist Elizabeth Peyton created a new work, Omai (Afterlife) after Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Portrait of Omai, 1776, 2023, inspired by the portrait.
Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery’s, said:
Reynolds’ majestic Portrait of Mai is by far the most significant acquisition the National Portrait Gallery has ever made, and the largest acquisition the UK has ever made, along with the Titians acquired by the National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland in 2009 and 2012. I would like to thank the 2,000 Art Fund members and National Portrait Gallery supporters across the UK and the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Art Fund for their significant and historic grants as well as the many other generous supporters. This includes major contributions from the Portrait Fund, Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation and Julia and Hans Rausing, and support from the Idan and Batia Ofer Family Foundation and the David and Emma Verey Charitable Trust. Together, you have made such an unprecedented endeavour possible. My thanks also to Getty for having the vision to join us in an innovative strategic partnership to ensure this uniquely important painting enters public ownership for the first time, in Reynolds’ 300th anniversary year, so its beauty can be seen and enjoyed by everyone. Heartfelt thanks too to my wonderful colleagues and everyone who worked night and day to make the impossible possible – they have done something extraordinary for all of us.
Dr Timothy Potts, Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, said:
Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai is not only one of the greatest masterpieces of British art, but also the most tangible and visually compelling manifestation of Europe’s first encounters with the peoples of the Pacific islands. The opportunity for Getty to partner with the Gallery in acquiring and presenting this work to audiences in Britain and California, and from around the world, represents an innovative model that we hope will encourage others to think creatively about how major works of art can most effectively be shared. The myriad artistic, historical, and cultural issues that Mai’s portrait raises for 21st century viewers and researchers will be the starting point for a joint research project led by the Gallery and Getty in the years ahead.
Support from leading artists and historians:
Simon Sebag-Montefiore, historian and NPG Trustee:
I am just delighted and proud as a historian and as an NPG trustee that this hugely significant and beautiful masterpiece – important as Reynold’s greatest portrait and both as a reflection of its own time and also relevant to our own – will now be able to stay in the NPG through an innovative deal that itself will be a model for the future.
Sir Antony Gormley, artist:
It’s good news that this significant work can be shown as part of our national collection of portraits. It may well be the first time that the English establishment represented a member of a tribal society with dignity and respect. Here is an alternative way of being : Mai’s open and engaging face complimented by his hands; one open to the world in a gesture of giving, the other protective, showing knuckle tattoos and his bare feet firmly in touch with the earth.
Richard Deacon, artist and Art Fund Trustee:
“The Portrait of Mai is a magnificent portrait by Reynolds, at the height of his powers, of a friend, a portrait he kept at the entrance to his studio for the rest of his life. That funding for an arrangement for the NPG to retain the painting, in partnership with Getty, has been successful is fantastic news. Without Reynolds, the history of British art would be impoverished, without this painting our appreciation of Reynolds would have been diminished.”
Rebecca Salter, President, Royal Academy of Arts:
It is wonderful that future generations will now be able to appreciate the power and beauty of this rare portrait. What better way to mark the 300th anniversary of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ birth this
year?
About Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (Omai)
Reynolds painted Mai while at the height of his creative powers, exhibiting the portrait at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1776. He portrayed his imposing subject barefoot before a tropical landscape, dressed in flowing robes, including a traditional tapa (bark-cloth) sash, and a headdress (Mai is known to have dressed in British clothes while in London). His pose and hand gestures were probably inspired by the Apollo Belvedere, then one of the most admired antique sculptures, celebrated by Winckelmann in 1755 as the classical epitome of “noble simplicity and quiet grandeur.” While Mai’s face affects a distant, heroic gaze and bears the hallmarks of idealization, there is an unmistakable individuality in his strong facial features and tattooed hands.
Reynolds, who apparently painted Mai’s portrait for personal reasons, kept the picture in his London studio until his death in 1792. It was shortly after acquired by Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, who installed it in his country estate, Castle Howard, in Yorkshire, England. The painting remained there until 2001, when it was acquired at auction by a private collector, who offered it for sale.
