Historic painting saved after public appeal

The painting depicts life at Charleston during World War One

A painting by a leading member of the Bloomsbury group will stay in Sussex after a public appeal raised £100,000.

Lessons in the Orchard was painted by Duncan Grant in 1917, showing the two sons of fellow artist Vanessa Bell, sister of writer Virginia Woolf.

He gifted it to her and it hung beside her bed at her country home, Charleston, in Firle.

It has been on permanent loan at the property, now open to the public, but was at risk of being sold at auction.

Members of the public donated £45,000, along with grants of £40,000 from the Arts Fund and £15,000 from the Arts Council England.

Duncan Grant, a conscientious objector, was working as an agricultural labourer when he painted the picture.

It shows the children, Quentin and Julian, having lessons outdoors with their tutor Mabel Selwood.

Julian would die in the Spanish Civil War, after volunteering as an ambulance driver.

The painting was given to fellow Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell, who hung it beside her bed

Virginia Nicholson, president of Charleston and Vanessa Bell’s granddaughter, said: “People love this painting because it opens a window onto the magical early years the Bloomsbury group spent at Charleston.

"Duncan Grant’s simple, beautiful composition suspends Quentin and Julian Bell and their nurse in a moment of perpetual sunshine, in the garden of the house that, all their lives, they loved best.”

Duncan Grant pictured in the garden of Charleston in 1930

Nathaniel Hepburn, director of Charleston, said: "We have been able to prevent this painting from going to auction and potentially disappearing from public view.

"We can now loan the work to exhibitions around the world that expand the understanding of the Bloomsbury group and its legacy."

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