The Arts Society of Southport has paid for the restoration of Family Group of the Barton Family (painted about 1770 -80) The painting has been cleaned, relined and a new frame has been provided by the Arts Society of Southport.
The man on the left of the picture is Miles Barton, who is said to have christened Southport in 1798 with a bottle of a wine on a lively night out at the opening of ‘Duke’s Folly’, the new South Port Hotel owned by William ‘Old Duke’ Sutton.
These images show the process to the finished result. As you can see the painting was very damaged and hasn’t been seen for decades.
On the restored painting Miles Barton (on the left) is pictured with his family in front of Much Hoole Church. He had recently bought the patronage of the rectory for his oldest son Roger. A red squirrel, sat very prominently on a branch overhead, may be a reference to the Barton’s connections to another prominent local family the Blundells of Ince Blundell Hall, whose family crest features a squirrel.
The painting has been cleaned, relined and a new frame has been provided by the Arts Society of Southport, the restorer was Harriet Owen Hughes.
Posted on 26 September 2018 under Exhibitions