An historic 18th century painting at The Atkinson in Southport has been lovingly restored.
The Arts Society of Southport paid for the restoration of the Family Group of the Barton Family, which was painted about 1770 -80, and is attributed to Arthur Devis.
The painting has been cleaned, relined and a new frame has been provided.
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.
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 Bartons’ 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.
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