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A giant painting of one of Britain's most famous actor-managers by the master portrait painter of his age has been bought by the National Portrait Gallery.
The 8ft-high portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence shows John Philip Kemble, a member of a famous acting family which also included the tragedienne Sarah Siddons, Kemble's sister.
The work was already on loan to the gallery for only the second public viewing since it entered a private family collection more than 170 years ago.
But the gallery has struck a deal with the owner, John Philips, to buy the work with the help of a £55,000 award from The Art Fund charity. The total cost after tax concessions was £178,500.
Mr Philips is selling the portrait to fund the maintenance of the stately home, Heath House, Staffordshire, where it has hung for six generations. The oil painting shows Kemble at the height of his career in the lead role in Joseph Addison's play, Cato, about the last days of Roman statesman, Cato the Younger.
Mr Philips's ancestor, John Burton Philips, purchased the work from Lawrence in 1831 and it had left the family home only once before now, for exhibition at the Royal Opera House in 1983.
Mr Philips said the family was sad to sell but the work looked far better on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery than it had done in his dining room. He said: "I hate to see it going but if one is blessed or cursed with a pile, you have sometimes to realise an asset. There are some greater requirements in trying to keep a stately home going."
The portrait will be a star draw at the first exhibition of the work of Lawrence for 30 years. It will be held at the National Portrait Gallery in the autumn of next year.
