How Country Life helped track down a lost masterpiece by Gainsborough
Five years of fruitless searching had left the National Portrait Gallery almost abandoning hope of finding a lost Gainsborough painting, but the letters page of Country Life came to the rescue.

In July 2015, Dr Lucy Peltz of the National Portrait Gallery in London had a clever idea to try and find the whereabouts of several paintings that the artist Thomas Gainsborough had done of various family members.
Years of looking via the usual channels hadn't yielded results, and hardly surprising considering that some of the paintings hadn't been seen in public for well over a century.
Thus is was that Dr Peltz decided to try writing a letter to Country Life:
The letter was a huge success – the owner of the pictures saw the letter and contacted the gallery.
'Representatives of the owners of the painting discovered that we were looking for it after we put the notice in and got in touch with us very late in the day,' Dr Peltz told The Times.
So well did it work, in fact, that a few months later, in September, Dr Peltz wrote another letter:
Once again, the pleae bore fruit – and the unfinished painting of Gainsborough's daughter Margaret is now one of the highlights of the 'Gainsborough Family Album' exhibition currently on at the NPG, which runs until February 3.
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Credit: Two Hacks by George Stubbs (Parker Gallery)
Long-neglected ‘copy’ turns out to be original Stubbs worth £750,000
Gallery owner Archie Parker thought something was amiss when he came across this painting in an online sale catalogue, and
Credit: Designer's room - Nicola Harding and Christopher Howe
A library in Bath transformed into a bright and beautiful room to think, play the piano and just enjoy the view
Nicola Harding and Christopher Howe joined forces to transform this first-floor library into a serenely elegant sitting room. Arabella Youens
In Focus: The plantsman-turned-artist who found art in flowers, and painted from corner to corner
Cedric Morris's striking still life images have been largely forgotten for three decades, but three new shows are ending that
Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.
-
'He unleashed a series of war cries, then intercepted the vole mid-air': There's nothing remotely common about the common kestrel
Known in Orkney as ‘moosie-haak’, kestrels are fierce hunters but have seriously declined and are now an amber-listed species.
-
101 gold rats, a 'self portrait as a horse' and a tribute to motherhood take home top prizes at this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
The Royal Academy has announced its 2025 prize winners, spanning talented sculptors, painters and print-makers, with works on display in London until August 19.