One of the most famous British portraits of the eighteenth century is in danger of being lost to the United Kingdom: Joshua Reynolds' life-size depiction of the Polynesian called Omai, whom James Cook brought to London in 1774 from his second voyage of discovery to the South Seas.

There he was admired like the preparations coming from the ever-expanding world, which corresponded to the enlightened hunger for knowledge and further education.

Reynolds captured the notion of the "noble savage" by combining classical allusions with a romantic image of pristine nature.

Gina Thomas

Features correspondent based in London.

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The portrait remained in the artist's studio until his death.

It then hung for two hundred years in Castle Howard, the country estate in northern England made famous by the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.

In 2001 it was auctioned at Christie's for a hammer price of 9.4 million.

A previous offer from Tate of £5.5million had been turned down.

The following year, the new owner, Irish businessman John Magnier, applied for an export license for the canvas, now valued at £12.5 million.

Is the rating exaggerated?

As is usual in such cases, the government has imposed a temporary ban on exports to give a UK buyer the opportunity to purchase the artwork at market value.

An anonymous donor agreed to donate this amount to the Tate.

However, the owner did not want to sell the painting, so the British government rejected the application.

She then agreed to an export, limited to six and a half years, for the purpose of exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland.

Since returning from Dublin, the portrait has been stored in a British depot.

A temporary export license was refused in 2012.

Now the owner is making another attempt, this time with a valuation of £50m, endorsed by appraiser Anthony Mould.

The government is giving British museums four months to make an offer.

If interest is expressed, the deadline can be extended by eight months.

However, the estimate, which is perceived as exaggerated in retail, exceeds the possibilities of the houses suffering from the consequences of the loss of income caused by the corona.

And so it looks like the portrait will disappear from the country.

In view of the historical importance of Omai for the postcolonial discussion, this is all the more regrettable.