. The portrait of the officer, who lost his arm at the Battle of Toulon, depicts an experienced fighter and was possibly commissioned to commemorate his retirement from service. Royal Museums Greenwich was given the portrait in 1960, and information attached to the artwork stated that it was by Gainsborough, but a curator at that time believed it was too poor quality to be by the great artist, and dismissed it as the work of a lesser artist. Art historian However, art historian Hugh Belsey recently unearthed a photograph of the painting taken in the early-20th century, which made clear that the piece was by Gainsborough. Mr Belsey followed the trail of ownership for the work, but found that all records of the painting went cold in the mid-20th century. It was only by chance that Mr Belsey, flicking through a cata){kind=link}
Royal Museums Greenwich incorrectly dismissed the artwork when is came into their possession 60 years ago
Thomas Gainsborough may have died in 1788, but he refuses to stay out of the picture.
A new work by the painter has been rediscovered more than 230 years after his death, after it turned out that one of his portraits had been wrongly dismissed as the work of a lesser artist.
The 1762 portrait of Captain Frederick Cornewall entered the Royal Museums Greenwich collection in 1960, and was deemed of too poor quality to be a Gainsborough, and promptly placed out of sight.
However, research by curators and art experts has revealed that the painting which has spent decades in storage is in fact by one of Britain’s most celebrated artists.