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Bid to save playwright's portrait for the nation
By Louise Jury, Evening Standard 16.11.07
Great work: The £218,000 painting of Jacobean playwright John Fletcher
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This is the painting of Jacobean playwright John Fletcher that the National Portrait Gallery is hoping to save for the nation.
The gallery is to launch a public appeal next week to help meet the £218,000 sale price.
It is believed to be the only surviving portrait produced in the playwright's lifetime. The artist is unknown. If purchased, the work would contribute to a five-year research project that is examining all of the gallery's pictures of this period.
Sandy Nairne, director of the gallery, said: "The painting would be a wonderful addition to the National Portrait Gallery's collection of Elizabeth and Jacobean writers. It is not just that Fletcher was a really important colleague and collaborator of Shakespeare, but it would almost complete our group of incredibly significant writers who created the modern English language." These include Ben Jonson and Shakespeare.
The portrait is currently in the Clarendon Collection, owned by the 7th Earl of Clarendon. It goes on show at the gallery from Tuesday to encourage donations, with a target date of 20 January.
