A collection of “lost” artworks depicting Lichfield Cathedral are to go on display in the city later tis year.
John Louis Petit’s work had been largely forgotten following his death in 1968, but studies have recently been carried out on his art.
While experts knew he often painted views of his own city, only now is the detail of his portfolio being fully understood.
Ten of Petit’s pieces will go on display as part of the Lichfield Festival ahead of a new permanent exhibition. There will also be a talk on his work and life at the Lichfield Guildhall on 14th July.
The Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave, said:
“These pictures of Lichfield and its venerable cathedral reveal Petit as an artist who knew both how to see and how to help us to see.
“They invite us into a vision that goes beyond a factual statement to show the majesty, the power, the solemnity, and the mystery of divine creation and human construction”
Dr Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield
Born into a wealthy family in 1801, Petit studied at Cambridge, graduating in 1825. The following year he was ordained and began working as a curate, first in Lichfield and then Essex.
In 1834 he resigned from church work to pursue his twin vocations of architecture and art.
Petit never tried to sell his work so much of it had remained in the family, only to be abandoned in an outbuilding of an estate in Surrey.
The property’s new owners put the surviving works – about 6,000 – in local auctions in the 1980s and 1990s.
But efforts have since taken place across a number of decades to track down a number of the pieces to reunite them as a single collection.
Cllr Doug Pullen, leader of Lichfield District Council, said:
“Petit’s story is fascinating.
“The pictures and exhibition will add significantly to Lichfield’s attractions as one of the most beautiful cthedral cities in Britain”.
Cllr Doug Pullen
On 14th July, Philip Modiano, curator of the rediscovered series, will talk about the artworks at the Guildhall on the final day of the Lichfield Festival.
He said:
“Petit is one of the most remarkable British, even European, artists of the 19th century – but we are only just beginning to understand the contribution he made.
“By breaking with the traditions of precision in art he sets our imagination free.
“The discovery and recovery of his Lichfield series of pictures can contribute hugely to the city and all those who visit it.”
Philip Modiano