Charles Townley painting featured in Sotheby’s exhibition

The exhibition, organised by international auction house Sotheby’s, will feature artwork from Towneley Hall in Burnley, alongside work by artists including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Piet Mondrian.

The piece, titled ‘Charles Townley and Friends in his Library at Park Street, was painted in around 1780 by Johann Zoffany, and depicts Charles, part of the Towneley family who lived at the Grade-I listed hall – now a gallery and museum – in Towneley Park among an array of sculptures.

Sally Smith, manager of Towneley Hall, said:  “We’ve been working with Sotheby’s to bring East Lancashire’s heritage and culture to central London.

The painting by Zoffany (Image: Burnley Council)

“It is a pleasure to loan the painting. It’s marvellous to think that a painting from Burnley has joined 11 other artworks from other highly regarded collections such as the Tate Gallery, Leeds Museums & Galleries, and Sainsbury’s Centre to form the exhibition London: An Artistic Crossroads.

“We’re delighted that artwork that normally graces Towneley Hall is now sitting with such wonderful artistic company. and being seen by visitors from across the world.”

The ‘London: An Artistic Crossroads’ exhibition will be on display at Sotheby’s galleries in New Bond Street in the capital, and runs until July 5.

It is part of the National Gallery’s 200th anniversary celebrations and brings together a dozen extraordinary works of art from major regional collections as a homage to London and to all those who have come from elsewhere to be inspired, create and flourish.

Towneley’s senior curator Alison Cooper joined other representatives from the loaning organisations to give a talk about the painting of Charles Townley, focusing on his passion for collecting antiquities which became one of the foundation stones of the British Museum’s collections.

His marble collection, on display at the British Museum, consists of around 300 items, including busts of Roman Emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous, and a number of sculptures dating back some 1,800 years to the Roman era.

These statues feature in the artwork by Zoffany, a notable neoclassical artist who also painted portraits of royalty and other prominent figures of the time.