Drive for £50,000 to bring Wolverhampton artworks home
Campaigners today called on residents to back their bid to bring a series of famous artworks that once adorned the walls of a Wolverhampton house back to the city.
Staff at Wightwick Manor are trying to raise £50,000 to buy the set of four pictures by Philip Webb that date back to the late 1800s.
The images, which feature a lion, hare, fox and raven, are said to be of 'international significance' because they were used to help create the renowned William Morris Forest Tapestry in 1887 which now hangs in the Victoria &Albert Museum in London. The sketches and watercolours were originally on display at Compton Hall, now Compton Hospice, where the West Midlands brewer Lawrence Hodson, a friend of Morris, lived with his family.
House steward Helen Bratt-Wyton said: "These are amazing watercolours of international significance.
"We feel that it is very important that the drawings come back to Wolverhampton.
"The drawings also compliment the current Morris new collection exhibition here, where the Forest Tapestry fabric is central to the new designs.
"No-one had any idea that these drawings would be coming up for sale at all, let alone at this time. The excitement generated has been incredible.
"When we acquire them, by law we can never sell them so they will be held permanently on behalf of the nation 'forever for everyone'."
It had been thought that the artworks had left Wolverhampton for good when the Hodson family moved away taking the collection with them.
However when bosses at the manor discovered in February via the Antiques Roadshow expert Eric Knowles that the brewer's descendants had decided to sell off the collection they launched a bid to bring them back to Wolverhampton.
A dealer was instructed to buy them on the property's behalf and now staff have to raise enough money to buy them from him.
All together it will cost around £190,000 to purchase the illustrations but funding from the National Trust, which owns Wightwick Manor, and the Mander Fund, which was set up by the family that used to own the manor to make improvements and acquire items has already been secured towards the total.
It is hoped that a further donation towards the fundraising effort will come from the Art Fund later on this year which will leave property chiefs the last £50,000 to find.
They have now launched a public appeal for donations.
To help with the fundraising drive members of the public can make donations via the good causes collection website www. justgiving.com/WightwickManor
